Brian Tasker

I qualified as a counsellor in 2001 after completing a post-graduate Diploma in Counselling at the University of Bristol as a mature student.  Training as a counsellor had become an unexpected mid-life career change.  I’d begun working with people in 1991 after the 90s recession forced the closure of my business. Being unemployed, I volunteered at the local hospice and worked closely for five years with people with a terminal illness and their families in various roles including auxiliary nurse, day care and the bereavement service.  This led me to undertake some counselling courses and eventually to begin my counselling training.

While training, I found employment as a Community Mental Health Worker and after qualifying, developed the service to take counselling referrals from local GPs, collaborating with the mental health team together with the substance misuse services and along with the Health Visitors based at the Centre, I supported a group for women affected by post-natal depression.

Counselling clients brought concerns that included being an unpaid carer, depression, substance misuse, anxiety, low-self esteem, neuro-divergence, suicidal ideation and childhood sexual abuse.

When the funding at the Centre came to an end, I moved to a counselling post at a residential rehab for people affected by substance misuse and in addition to seeing clients individually, ran process groups and workshops and later following a contractual change, moved to a front line agency working with clients in active addiction where I stayed until I retired from full-time employment. As a substance-misuse was a specialised field, I volunteered at a local counselling charity to facilitate a return to generic counselling.  During that 20 years plus period, I was fortunate in being able to develop my skill set in a variety of contexts with a diverse population as well as integrating a personal response to mid-life upheaval. I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy with Senior accreditation and I abide by their Code of Ethics. Now semi-retired, I have a small private practice offering one to one counselling, supervision for counsellors and occasional professional training workshops and I welcome clients to my practice.