Meet our LighterLife 2U Counsellors
Our LighterLife 2U Counsellors are fully trained to deliver our unique weight loss and weight management programme over the telephone, meaning no matter where you are help and support is just a phone call away. They have a wealth of experience and really care about getting clients to where they want to be.
Natalie
My name’s Natalie and I’ve been a LighterLife counsellor for 3 years now working with face to face groups and 2U telephone groups.
I too have been a LighterLife client and have experienced the same thoughts and feelings that you’re having right now – and I can honestly say that joining LighterLife was the best decision I ever made. LighterLife offers fast, safe weight loss whilst you learn new skills to help manage your healthy weight for lifelong success. No more frustrations with food, feelings of guilt or yo-yo dieting.
I found the focus of group work as a client very helpful in exploring my own relationship with food and now as a LighterLife2U counsellor I am able to offer that opportunity to others.
At weekly group meetings we explore and understand the reasons that brought you to LighterLife and the goal to let go of weight, and with the support from myself and others in your group you can learn the skills needed to manage your weight long term.
Kimberley
I have been a Lighterlife counsellor for many years, working with groups face to face and on the telephone. Counselling and Psychology has been at the centre of my career, working with clients from many backgrounds with differing issues.
I consider myself to be a good listener, empathetic and a motivator. It’s important to me to create a supportive & safe group environment with a sense of belonging, trust & with some laughter along the way. Counselling may seem daunting, but it works. My clients say they look forward to their group.
Within the time we spend together, I’ll encourage each individual whether you’re a “talker” or more comfortable as a listener on their journey, wherever the starting place is, we will unravel your relationship with food, develop insight to reach your goal weight. I pride myself on understanding life’s challenges and obstacles and finding ways to meet these in a positive and helpful way.
Tony
As a Counsellor I seek to create a non-judgemental, confidential and safe environment where issues which may be preventing you from leading a rewarding and fulfilling life, can be raised and explored. From time to time we all lose direction and it can appear difficult to see a way forward. It is important to examine what we are capable of doing for ourselves, rather than dwelling on what we do to ourselves.
I have over thirty years’ experience working with people. People matter to me and I take pride in my work helping others to work towards fulfilling their potential. Change often comes about within the confines of a ‘therapeutic relationship’ between counsellor and client. I am a member of the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy) and therefore, I am bound by and work within their code of ethics.
I adore the great outdoors. In my spare time I like to work with Archie, a retired Police Horse, and exercise my three dogs. I also enjoy growing vegetables and keeping chickens.
Paul
Facilitating LighterLife groups has without doubt been one of the best things that I have ever done.
After University I spent 20 years in the Health and Fitness industry and I quickly realised that when we had very overweight and obese members trying to lose weight we didn’t really have a plan to deal with that group of people.
I left the Health and Fitness industry and decided that I wanted to be involved with a wellness franchise of some sort. I found LighterLife and started working as a LighterLife Franchisee facilitating face to face groups in 2002.
It quickly became apparent that the LighterLife weight loss programme was a completely life changing experience for a large number of my clients. For the first time clients were able to look at why they were overeating in the first place rather than just doing a diet.
I have been awarded an NVQ in Obesity Counselling and as a LighterLife Franchisee I was also part of the associate membership of the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy).
To date I have worked with well over 1,000 clients both in face to face as well as telephone groups.
Judy
With a background starting in the health and fitness industry, followed by a natural progression into remedial and therapeutic massage, I found with experience that most of our physical ailments were linked with the mind and spirit. Wanting to treat the whole person led my progression into counselling. I ran a private practice combining hypnotherapy and NLP, later training in CBT and psychodynamic counselling, and also worked with Relate. I find all this work rewarding and am passionate about enabling clients to heal unresolved issues and to fulfil their dreams and reach their potential.
It was by chance that I came across LighterLife in 2014 and started working at a centre one evening a week in Worcester offering group therapy. I find LighterLife’s activities to be well thought out and being the only organisation that offer counselling as well as the programmes for clients, true pioneers in this field.
I live with my husband of 32 years in a log cabin which we built ourselves and enjoy gardening, music, yoga and meditation. Although now semi retired, I feel blessed that I am able to offer the above said therapies for clients.
Lucy
I have been qualified in counselling for the last 12 years. Alongside my LighterLife groups, I also write articles for the LighterLife magazine and run my own private practice in Newcastle, my home town. I am a massive advocate of “mindfulness” and lost 2 stones of weight by using the same LighterLife strategies and techniques we explore every week in the group work.
The telephone groups are at the heart of my work at LighterLife. I love my job, I work with amazing people and feel privileged to be part of their individual journeys in working towards their goals, exploring and overcoming challenges on the way and being privy to their light bulb moments and achievements.
I specialise in addictions and food addiction is now a passion, partially because it is sometimes still unrecognised or misunderstood. Many believe it isn’t a ‘true’ addiction like drugs or alcohol, yet its impact can be so significant and far reaching in people’s day to day lives. In LighterLife telephone groups I am able to help a vast number of people across the UK successfully address their food addictions and achieve their goals.
When I am not practising, I love singing, painting, cooking and spending quality time with my family and friends and of course, holidays in sunnier climates!!
