My name is Steve Manning and I run Actuality Counselling which is based in Arrad Street in central Liverpool (for detailed directions, refer to the right-hand panel and the map below). You can also access my services online.
I am an accredited counsellor, supervisor and coach, having trained at Liverpool John Moores University, PCCS and the ILM. I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), am on its Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists and work according to its Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions (2018) which sets out the organisation's commitment to clients. I am fully insured and attend regular supervision to ensure that I meet professional standards.
"The very first thing that clients need to feel is that they've finally come home, that finally here is someone that gives them an utterly safe space where they can dictate what is said and what isn't said and what it means. They say what it means, not you. Finally they have found somewhere where an hour or fifty minutes is totally precious because it is all about them - being with another: being validated, being seen, being acknowledged, being understood and being enabled to find a better way to be who they are. Not to change into somebody else but to find a better way to be who they are capable of being. That, to me, is what therapy is about."
Emmy van Deurzen (2019)
I am available from Monday to Thursday between 9 am and 6 pm, and on Fridays between 9 am and 1.30 pm. Sessions can sometimes be scheduled at other times.
Actuality Counselling offers:
- counselling (for adults);
- Equine-assisted Therapy;
- EFT;
- Supervision (for qualified counsellors, trainees and people in other professions);
- life coaching; and
- workshops/CPD events for qualified and trainee counsellors.
You can find details of other local and national services here.
"Any story you have about yourself is not the same as the unfolding reality of what you are: the ongoing life of your senses, the tenderness of your heart, the consciousness that right now is seeing or hearing these words. Yet because our beliefs are continuously filtering and interpreting reality, we mistake our stories about ourselves and the world for reality itself."
Tara Brach ('Radical Compassion' - 2019)
I am registered with the Information Commissoner's Office (ICO). In accordance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), any personal information relating to clients will be processed fairly, lawfully and transparently. Full details can be found at GDPR.
Tel: +44 (0)7941 488 550
e-mail:actualitycounselling@gmail.com
"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination."
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
Actuality Counselling is located at 24 Arrad Street, Liverpool, L7 7JE, behind the Everyman Theatre, near the Catholic cathedral and not far from Liverpool city centre (see the map on the left). About halfway along Arrad Street, opposite the entrance to the Lennon Studios student village, you will see a sign for 'Creative Studios'; at the top of a short flight of stairs there is a buzzer for Actuality Counselling.
"And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was greater than the risk it took to bloom."
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977)
Actuality Counselling is conveniently situated for all modes of transport and is approximately 15 minutes walk from both Liverpool Central and Liverpool Lime Street stations.
The following bus routes pass near to Arrad Street: 75, 80, 80A, 80E, 86, 86A, 86C and 86D stop in Hardman Street; and routes 6, 7, 7A, 79 and 79D stop on Brownlow Hill (walk along Mount Pleasant to reach Arrad Street).
If you travel to a session by car, it is not advisable to park in Arrad Street itself; parking is restricted and traffic wardens often patrol the area.
The nearest car park is located 200 yards away, underneath the Metropolitan (Catholic) Cathedral at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5TQ (closes at 6 pm). Other car parks in the area include the multi-story car park in Paddington Village at Elm Grove, Smithdown Lane, Grove Street, Liverpool, L7 3FA; the multi-storey car park at 38 Mount Pleasant, L3 5TB (350 yards away); ParkBee, 1 Heathfield Street, Liverpool, L1 4AT (half a mile away); and Parr Street car park at 62-74 Parr Street, Liverpool, L1 4JN (half a mile away).
I am unable to offer access for wheelchair users.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust (1871-1922)
"With all his firmness and self-control, he tasks himself too far: locks every feeling and pang within - expresses, confesses, imparts nothing. I am sure it would benefit him to talk..."
Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre (1847)
Download a free booklet which describes a range of 'alternative', natural, non-medical approaches to dealing with stress; many people have used these as effective alternatives to chemical medicines which often cause serious side-effects.
You can also click here for details of various books and resources which you might find helpful.