Meet Nicki
I'm Nicola Wakefield (I go by Nicki), an integrative counsellor and psychotherapist based in Eastbourne, and the person behind Perspective Practice.
Qualifications and experience matter when you're choosing a counsellor or therapist. But you're also choosing a person to talk to about things you may rarely say out loud.
So here's a little more about the person you'll actually be sitting with.
Why I became a counsellor
Counselling is my third career, and I came to it through my own experience of how powerful this work can be.
I've always been a thinking person - curious, analytical and interested in understanding why things are the way they are. For a long time, thinking came much more naturally to me than understanding or expressing what I was feeling.
My own counselling changed that.
It didn't make me less rational or analytical. Instead, I discovered how much useful information I'd been missing by not paying enough attention to my emotional experience.
It changed how I understood myself, my relationships and some of the choices I made. I remember thinking: "If I'd known this earlier, life might have been easier to navigate."
That stayed with me. It's a significant part of why I eventually chose to retrain as a counsellor, and why I'm so passionate about helping other people understand themselves more fully.
A different route into counselling
Before training, I spent many years working in business and consultancy.
I have experienced environments where being capable, performing well, making decisions and managing competing demands are simply expected. You can appear to have everything together on the outside while things feel very different underneath.
That background is particularly useful when I work with professionals who are used to thinking, analysing and solving problems. You won't need to spend half a session explaining the realities of organisational life to me.
But I don't approach counselling as another problem-solving exercise. One of the things my own experience taught me was that sometimes thinking harder isn't the answer.
Why I trained in counselling and coaching
When I decided to train, I was interested in both counselling and coaching.
Counselling offers the opportunity to understand ourselves more deeply. Coaching brings a different question: what do you want to do, change or move towards?
I didn't want to have to choose between them.
That's what led me to train in Integrative Counselling and Coaching at the University of East London, on a course specifically designed to bring the two together.
It's a way of working that suits me because it brings together two things I value: deeper understanding of ourselves and the possibility of change and forward movement.
What am I like to work with?
I'm warm, open and engaged.
I listen carefully, but you can expect our sessions to feel like conversations. I'll ask questions. I may notice connections, offer another perspective or gently challenge you. And if a psychological idea or practical tool might be useful, I'll explain it in ordinary language rather than expecting you to know therapy terminology.
There will also be times when the most useful thing I can do is give you room to think, feel or explore something at your own pace.
And there may be times when we laugh. Counselling can involve difficult things without every minute of it having to feel heavy.
A little more about me
Music has been an important part of my life for many years, including working professionally in music earlier in my career and performing with others.
I also enjoy keeping active and being outdoors - one of the things I particularly value about living close to the South Downs and the sea.
Qualifications and professional background
Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Coaching (Distinction) - University of East London
Level 2 & Level 3 Certificates in Counselling Studies - South Coast Wellbeing
Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Kingston University
Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
I undertake regular clinical supervision and continuing professional development and hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance.
Alongside private practice, I volunteer as a counsellor with The Old Bank Wellbeing Trust. I also founded Eastbourne Counsellors Social to bring local counsellors together to connect and learn from one another.