Louise Burchell

Counsellor in TRaininG

Registered YogA Teacher

My background and how I work

There is a lot of pressure to be all things to all people right now.  We're expected to work hard, be fit and healthy, run our home and family life, stay in touch with friends and generally keep up appearances.  It's exhausting and sometimes completely overwhelming.  We can lose sight of what we as individuals want and need, instead living by other people’s expectations or demands.  As parents in particular, your needs may become secondary to those of your child or children. 

I am a pluralistic counsellor, which simply means that I believe different things work for different people at different times.  There is no 'one size fits all', so together we will explore what you want and need from counselling.  I have training in a range of different counselling modalities (including Person Centred and Psychodynamic) and nearly 15 years of experience working with women during pregnancy and postnatally.

I can offer you space to bring (or find) your true self, without judgement.  A space to take a breath, explore your thoughts and feelings, feel heard and start to feel more like yourself. 

What drives me

I have experienced the relief that comes from talking openly and honestly with someone who really listens.  It's great to talk to friends and family but sometimes they want to fix things for you or remind you of all the positives in your life.  Well-meaning, but ultimately unhelpful when all you want is for someone to listen to you.

The past 15 years of my career have been driven by a passion for supporting people through the challenges of parenthood - from deciding whether you want to have children, trying to conceive, pregnancy, baby loss, birth, the newborn stage, toddler stage and every stage thereafter.

In my role as a prenatal yoga teacher, I aim to help people feel prepared for birth and parenthood.  However, I’m not sure anyone ever feels completely prepared.  I am particularly passionate about supporting people who have experienced birth trauma no matter how big or small, or who have found the transition to parenthood more difficult than they expected, but really my passion is to support all parents and expectant parents to feel less overwhelmed and more at ease.

Some of my experience

After studying psychology at university, I volunteered with Home Link Family Support before moving into paid roles with Fife Gingerbread and Barnardos.  Here I provided support to young parents in group settings and through intensive family support within family homes. I currently run my own business teaching yoga classes in Corstorphine specialising in pregnancy yoga, postnatal yoga and yoga for women. 

Most importantly though, I am a mother of two young children.  I have experienced (and am still experiencing) the highs and lows of motherhood, and whilst I of course have not been through exactly what you are going through, I can certainly offer you support and compassion to process your own unique feelings and experiences.

My credentials

I am in my final year of a Postgraduate Diploma in Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy with Grounded Learning, and am a member of COSCA (Scotland’s professional body for counselling and psychotherapy).

I also have a degree in psychology and I am a Registered Yoga Teacher and Prenatal Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.