Meet the team

Founded by Dr Louise McDonnell in Durham to offer therapy sessions to adults, young people and children, Talk Durham has grown to offer additional services including counselling from hand-picked practitioners.

Dr Louise McDonnell

I am a chartered counselling psychologist, my original counselling training was Cognitive-Behavioural Therapist (CBT). CBT continues to inform some of my work, alongside several other theoretical approaches. My special interest is in trauma and I can offer Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) to both adults and children. This is a highly specialised way of working with trauma and complex trauma.

I am interested in the context in which individuals grow and develop and believe it is the complexities of our inner voice and external expectations which hamper our ability to adapt to change.

Before retraining as a counselling psychologist I worked in industry for a decade. I lived in Sweden and then London for many years before returning to the north east.

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

2019 – Level 1 EMDR Europe Child Accredited Core Training

2015 – 2018 Taught Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, Teesside University.
2016 – EMDR levels 1, 2 & 3
2012 – 2013 Masters in Psychology, Sunderland University.
2010 – 2011 BA (Hons) Counselling, Sunderland University.
2008 – 2009 Foundation Degree Counselling (Specialising in CBT), Sunderland University, 2:1.
2006 – 2007 Levels 2 & 3 Counselling, Sunderland University.

I have an extensive and ongoing portfolio of CPD, current enhanced DBS, professional indemnity insurance and evidence of 40 hours of personal therapy undertaken in 2016/17.

MEMBERSHIPS/AFFILIATIONS

HCPC Registered
British Psychological Society (No. 350066) associate member.

Health and Care Professionals Council (membership number PYL36742).

Michael Steel, Counsellor

Michael Steel

I am a registered BACP counsellor with many years’ experience. As part of my training and general practice I have worked in a number of organisations which include Sunderland Mind, Northumbria University Student Service and Sunderland Counselling Service. I have worked in different settings which include Durham Prison, St. Benedict’s Hospice and GP surgeries. To augment my professional and personal development I have attended numerous training events to develop my mindfulness practice. I am currently a part qualified Mindfulness Teacher.

Mindfulness and compassion inform both my personal and professional life. I am aware that when we struggle with our mental health we quite often become unkind to ourselves. I see it as my role to be a facilitator of change and work collaboratively with the client. To that end I see the therapeutic relationship as fundamental to creating an environment to allow you the space to explore the difficulties you are experiencing. I generally work from a person centred perspective, however I integrate other ways of working if it feels beneficial for the client.

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

2006 – 2007 Counselling Levels 2 and 3

2007 – 2009 Foundation Degree Counselling – (Core Model CBT)

2010 – 2011 BA (Hons) Degree Counselling, University of Sunderland 2:1

2013 EMDR levels 1 and 2

2013 8 week Foundation in Mindfulness Stress Reduction

2013 Mindfulness in Individual Therapy

2017 Breathworks – Mindfulness Teacher Training – part 1

Suzanne Robinson – Accredited Counsellor

Suzanne Robinson – working on line only

I have lived in Durham for over 40 years and have brought up my family here. I have been working in the therapeutic world since 1985 as a young people’s social worker/therapist for the NHS and in schools, as a family mediator and as a counsellor for couples and individuals of all ages. Recently, I have completed a two-year training course as a facilitator in family systemic constellation practice.

I consider myself to be a caring and thoughtful therapist who can offer acceptance and understanding when working with people experiencing personal and interpersonal issues. My hope is that I can help people to find their way forwards by enabling them to see their difficulties in a different light and from a different perspective.
I have a particular interest in personal and family relationships, child development and life transitions.

EDUCATIONAL/ PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

BA Joint Hons in French/ German, Class 11 (i), Bristol University, 1974
Post-graduate Certificate in Education, Durham University, 1975
Diploma in Social Work, New College, Durham, 1998
Post-graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Centre for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Plummer Court, Newcastle/ Durham University, 2001
Diploma in Counselling, New College, Durham 2005

I have recently completed a two-year training course in Systemic Family Constellations with the Centre for Systemic Constellations (CSC), based in London and Bristol. I am currently acting as a support for teachers and students undertaking the CSC Applied Training course for people interested in becoming family systemic constellation facilitators.

Accreditations and affiliations

BACP logo

Tracy Dunning, Counsellor

Tracy Dunning

As a Counsellor I have worked within various settings supporting children, young people and adults through loss, bereavement, life limiting illnesses including diagnosis as well as end of life. I have also worked within both primary and secondary school settings supporting children and young people with the issues and challenges they have to face. As well as this I have worked with AnxietyUK, offering therapy to adults who experience Anxiety & Depression in its many forms and also offer online and telephone sessions.

I work using an integrative approach, this means I work in a way which uses different methods within the talking therapies field, whether that is through talking, listening, working creatively or using CBT methods, we work together to ensure sessions are tailored to suit individual needs.

EDUCATIONAL/ PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

NCFE Counselling Level 2 & 3 2013-2015

Foundation Degree Counselling (Core Model CBT), University of Sunderland 2015-2017

B A (hons) Degree Counselling, University of Sunderland 2017-2018

City & Guilds Education & Training Level 3 2018-2019

NCFE Children & Young People’s Mental Health Level 2 2018

Mental Health First Aid 2015

Guided Parent Led CBT for Child Anxiety 2019

International Association for Rewind Trauma Therapy – Rewind Technique 2020

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