David K. Smith Counselling
Understanding your life and how you can live it better
Counselling means not doing this alone
When life is difficult counselling will help you:
- find a safe space to talk about your thoughts and feelings,
- meet someone who listens,
- explore how you came to be this way,
- identify the things you like and dislike about yourself,
- understand what you want to do differently, and
- work out how to make the changes you want to make.
SERVICES
Empathetic Support for You
Personal Therapy
This is your space where you get to work on the things that are a problem for you. This can include anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and anger along with many other concerns that we face in today's society.
Couples Therapy
In couples therapy I will provide you both with the space to look at what is happening in your relationship. You will get to hear what your partner has to say and work togther to find a way forward.
Client Issues
Supervision
If you are looking for a new supervisor and are either a qualified counsellor or a trainee, I can help you explore and celebrate the successes of your work as well as give you time to think about and develop your practice.
In the past few years I have worked with clients on a range of issues. These have included:
Anxiety, Depression, Trauma (psycho-educational work and intrusive memory management using The Rewind Technique), Post Traumatic Stress, Bereavement, Grief and Loss, Anger Management, Workplace Stress & Burnout, Relationship Management, Self-Esteem, Life goals and career options.
Intergrative Counselling
The Ways In Which I Work
If you are having problems in your life, finding the space and time to understand them is often difficult. I can help with this, providing you a confidential place to talk through the things worrying you.
Everyone is unique; each person’s situation different. I will work with you, helping you to understand your feelings and thoughts about what is proving difficult. From this you will have the opportunity to look at things differently.
I can help explore how you came to be who you are. Together we can find out what has influenced your life, the things you like and dislike about yourself. So that you can decide what you might want to change and how this might be done.
The counselling I provide will give you a safe place to do this, either face to face, online, by telephone or outside (walking and talking).
Experienced Counsellor working in Buxton
ABOUT ME
I am a counsellor based in Buxton, Derbyshire, with an MSc in Therapeutic Counselling from Greenwich University. Which I achieved in 2012.
I approach counselling from an integrative perspective, bringing ideas from attachment theory; transactional analysis and cognitive behavioural therapy into a person centred approach that will help you find a way of understanding yourself in a language that feels right for you.
I aim to keep developing my skills to help ensure my clients have access to the best I can offer.
I ensure a dedicated and confidential space for clients to explore their emotions and experiences.
As a registered and accredited member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy)
I strive to deliver a high quality and ethical service within the requirements of the BACP Ethical Framework for the counselling and psychological profession.
Education & Experience
Qualifications & Certifictations
I have achieved the following qualifications in support of my practice
University Of Greenwich
Masters In Therapeutic Counselling
November 2012
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Certificate Of Accreditation
May 2014
The Awareness Centre
Diploma In Clinical Supervision
November 2022
Complex Trauma Institute
The Rewind Technique
May 2025
Foundation For Infant Loss
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Practitioner Training
November 2025
Thurrock And Basildon College
Diploma In Therapeutic Counselling
September 2009
Fees And Costs
Ways In Which You Can Access My Service
Insurance Providers
If you have private health insurance I am registered with BUPA.
Private Practice
If you want to pay me directly
I charge £60 per session for 50 minutes of
individual or couples counselling.
I charge £75 per session for 90minutes of counselling supervision.
I accept payments by cash, FPS and by bank transfer.
Employee Assistance Providers
If your employer offers counselling as part of their employee care package, I provide counselling for the following Employee Assistance Providers:
Axa Health
Spectrum Life
Onebright
Health Assured / Wisdom Wellbeing
Telus Health
Worplace Options
OUTCOMES
Counselling Has A Positive Effect On Clients
The Outcomes Of Counselling
Client comments are a great way of letting potential new clients know about the positive experiences of others, however sometimes it is difficult to make comments meaningful and maintain the confidentiality of the clients involved. To overcome this, for a number of years I have been compiling statistical outcomes for the work that I have done and I will put a summary of that work here.
Each year the NHS Talking Therapy service publishes data about its outcomes.
In the year 2023 to 2024 it recorded that 50.1% of clients moved from being clinically in need of therapy at the start to not needing further therapy when they finished.
In the same period, I worked with 73 clients.
Using the same calculation as the NHS, 71% of my clients finished therapy no-longer needing the service.
In addition, in the same period, 84% of my clients had a planned ending to their therapy
Client Testimonials
Supervision
Supervision For New And Existing Therapists
I can provide you with the space to explore and celebrate the successes of your work as well as give you time to develop your practice.
I am an experienced counsellor and a qualified supervisor. I have worked in the third sector, private practice and for a number of Employee Assistance Providers. I also supervise others who work in those services.
If you are looking for a new supervisor and are either a qualified counsellor or a trainee, I hope that I can provide you with the space to explore and celebrate the successes of your work as well as give you time to think about and develop your practice. If you choose me as your supervisor, my aim is that you will find our sessions stimulating and empowering.
Good supervision relies on the development of a trusting relationship between those involved. I know this trust is vital when supervisees want to explore situations that have not gone as well as they might like.
I take a holistic approach to thinking about you and the work you are doing. So, in our sessions we will consider, not just your client work, but your well-being and also the environment in which you are working.
I am always interested in the ideas and approaches that are being developed to improve the delivery of therapy, and when working with you, I hope we can explore these to help keep our work fresh and interesting.
In my work prior to training as a counsellor, I was successful in helping people develop their potential to do their best work and that is what I hope to help anyone I supervise achieve and sustain.
If you would like to discuss having supervision with me then please give me a call and we can take things from there.
GET IN TOUCH
Contact Me for Support
GDPR
PRIVACY POLICY
I take your privacy seriously, and work in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. I will be asking you for, and recording, personal data to deliver a counselling service to you.
The data, I collect will come from contact that we have about booking appointments and from counselling therapy sessions.
I will not use or disclose your personal information for any other purpose which is not related (or in the case of sensitive information, directly related) to the above purpose without your consent, unless otherwise authorised, required or permitted under the laws of England and Wales. I will not sell your data to third parties.
There are six lawful justifications for me doing this and those I use are:
(a) Consent: The individual has given clear consent to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
(b) Contract: The processing is necessary for a contract with the individual, or because they have asked to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
(c) Legal obligation: The processing is necessary to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
(d) Vital interests: The processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
(f) Legitimate interests: The processing is necessary for legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply to a public authority processing data to perform official tasks.)
I will not use or disclose your personal information for any other purpose which is not related (or in the case of sensitive information, directly related) to the above purposes without your consent, unless otherwise authorised, required or permitted under the laws of England and Wales. I will not sell your data to third parties.
Detailed information on the collection, processing, sharing, retention and destruction of data is held on my Data Audit which is available to you on request. A summary of this information is given below.
DATA COLLECTING AND PROCESSING
Where I require consent, I will provide a way for you to positively decide about the information that you make available and how this is shared.
The data, I collect will come from contact that we have about booking appointments and from counselling therapy sessions. I will be update this data when necessary to ensure it is accurate, and it will be stored in the following formats:
Session Booking Information
Client Information Sheets
Outcome Monitoring Information
Client Payment Receipts
Client Case Notes
These will not contain your name or the names of anyone else that you know, but will contain some details of the things you have spoken about in therapy. This information could include special categories of personal data such as your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life, sexual orientation, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership. It will include some personal history, our ideas about, and details of, the issues you bring to therapy and plans you have made to make changes in your life.
Session Booking Information, Client information Sheets, Client Contracts, Outcome Monitoring Information and Client Case Notes will be used to provide a counselling service to you under the contract we have.
I will collect, hold, use and disclose the information collected to compile statistical data and to; maintain my database; notify you of any upcoming marketing, training or other events that you have opted in to; manage quality control; manage systems administration and attend to legal and professional compliance issues.
If you no longer wish to receive information about my services, please let me know by email.
DATA SHARING
I may also use this data to improve my ability to deliver services as a counsellor, and in doing this – if I want to share information with a third party that could identify you – I will explicitly seek your consent for this.
If your counselling service is being paid for by a third party, I may be required, as a part of our contract, to share some data with them. In this case I will inform you of the type of data I am sharing. I will ensure that external service providers are committed to meeting their requirements under GDPR and are only authorised to use personal data for the limited purposes specified in my agreement with them.
Relevant Information may be shared with your GP or other professionals in circumstances where I think it is necessary to protect your life or the life of another
Relevant Information will be shared when it is required by law or legislation.
Client payment receipts will be shared with HMRC as part of the requirement to fulfil my legal obligations.
DATA RETENTION
Personal data is retained for 7 years, which covers the minimum 6 years by law in which I have to keep certain information plus the current year. Personal data that is not needed any longer, such as communications relating to the booking of sessions will be deleted as soon as it is no longer necessary. There are certain exemptions in relation to financial data and health data.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have the following rights in relation to personal data held on you:
• The right to be informed about how personal data is used – (this notice)
• The right to access a copy of personal data that I hold about you
• The right to rectification of any errors in personal data held
• The right to erasure of any personal data
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object
• Rights in relation to automated decision-making including profiling
If you wish to learn more about these rights and how they operate, please look at the ICO’s website https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ .
I do not operate any automated decision-making systems.
You have a right to request a copy of the personal data that I hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal data please email or write to me. Proof of your identity will be required for security purposes.
If you are unhappy with the response that I provide when you exercise your GDPR rights or Data Protection Act 2018 rights, you have the right to lodge a complaint to the ICO. More guidance about raising a complaint with us is available on the ICO’s website https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/raising-concerns/ and for raising a complaint with the ICO, more information is available on https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ .
If you want to see a copy of the information I hold then please contact me in writing. I am required to keep some information about you for a period after we have stopped meeting and ended our contract. I will store this securely and dispose of it securely at the correct time. Further details of this are contained in the Data Audit.
WEBSITE DATA Cookies
My website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets a cookie in order to evaluate your use of this website and compile reports for us on activity on the website. Google stores the information collected by the cookie on servers in the United States and the transfer of the data to servers in the USA is governed by the EU-US Privacy Shield framework. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. More information about Google’s compliance with GDPR can be obtained from their website https://privacy.google.com/businesses/compliance.
Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser.
Other websites
My website contains links to other sites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policy.
Please review the website regularly as this statement may change from time to time. If you have any questions about my privacy policy or information I hold about you please contact me via email.