Claire Shaw

I am a qualified Psychotherapist and Counsellor in private practice. I work with a non-judgement and compassionate approach to support my clients who are experiencing issues that have impacted their lives, I aim to facilitate change and growth, and I believe this occurs as a result of the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client.

My journey into counselling started after I lost my identical twin sister and Mum to breast cancer. I felt angry at the world;  and that no-one understood how I was feeling. I didn't feel heard when I was referred to a psychiatrist via my doctors,  in fact he yawned when I was describing the pain and heartache I was feeling and this experience just silenced me. I suppressed the emotions and grief for many years.

I decided to undertake an evening college course in counselling as I felt I had experienced a lot of different life events and wanted to be able to help others and furthermore,  not have the experience I had with the psychiatrist that I did. I would want my clients to feel fully heard.

I absolutely loved the counselling course and after a lot of doubting myself; imposter syndrome, I took a deep breath and took the plunge to apply to the University of Nottingham to study counselling. I was accepted and three and a half years later in 2019 graduated with a first class Bachelors of Arts with Honours degree in Humanistic Counselling Practice. 

Claire offers both online and in-person support in her Balance Health Nottingham practice.