Mark Hughes
Psychosynthesis
Counselling

Qualifications

PG Dip in Psychosynthesis Counselling, Psychosynthesis and Education Trust/UeL. Foundation in Psychosynthesis, Waltham Forest College. Certificate in Further Education Teaching, Stage One, City and Guilds. BSc. (Hons) Physics, University of Manchester.

Professional Membership

I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), number 57127, and comply with their Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy. To find out more, please contact the BACP directly (www.bacp.co.uk) or you can view the Ethical Framework online.

Related Work

I attend or help facilitate a range of courses and activities for my own enjoyment, and which inevitably enhance my abilities as a counsellor. This includes assisting the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust with their courses, including:

Gestalt 1 (Postgraduate Diploma, four day module) Gestalt 2 (Postgraduate Diploma, four day module) Addiction, Abuse and Trauma (Postgraduate Diploma, two day module) Essentials of Psychosynthesis (Postgraduate Diploma, five day intensive introduction)

In addition I have co-created and facilitated:

The Transformative Power of Art (workshop with Angela Schütz and the Art and Spirituality Network)

Continued Professional Development

My own growth and development is very important to my wellbeing, and I believe, benefits others around me including my clients. As part of this I regularly update my skills and broaden my experience by attending courses officially recognised as Continued Professional Development.

Examples include work with groups (Essentials of Psychosynthesis, Family Constellations, London Men's Group), relationships, intimacy and sexuality (Human Awareness Institute, Nick Duffel), relationships and gender, (David Deida, Théun Mares), body work (massage, Feldenkrais, 5 Rhythms dance), spirituality and psychology (energy work, mindfullness, presence, Eckhart Tolle, Transpersonal Psychology, Ken Wilber's Integral/AQAL, the London Integral Circle).

Mind, Body, Spirit

My work is holistic, integrating all aspects of the human being according to the psychosynthesis model (e.g. body, feelings, mind, and personal centre of consciousness). Psychosynthesis also allows me to integrate the best elements from other models such as Ken Wilber's AQAL approach, Eckhart Tolle's presence, David Deida'a masculine and feminine, Nick Duffel's Gender Psychology and so on.

Naturally I apply this balanced and holistic approach in my own life, guided by my intuition and that reliable inner compass: my happiness. Thus, I take care to ensure that the activities which I think will be good for my health and wellbeing, also feel right, and particularly if they are fun!

So I naturally include many things that I really enjoy under the heading of professional (and personal) development, including: Figure Skating, Snowboarding, Skiing, Fishing, Growing (and eating) Vegitables, and Marital Arts (Shaolin Weapons Training and Chinese Gong Fu).

Experience

Beginning in 2005 as a volunteer, I provided low cost counselling to the general public with the following organisations until starting my own private practice in 2008:

PET Counselling Service - attached to the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust. Phoenix Counselling Service - a non-profit organisation offering affordable counselling to the general public, mainly in East London.

I have also taught young women in Holloway Prison, and worked as a volunteer at the Wood Street Drop-In Centre spending time with the service users.