Hello all...

This is my first and therefore brand-new website, so it’s basic and simple. I will expand it as I go along. However, through feedback from you, I will be able to recognise what needs changing and improving, so don’t be shy to let me know what you think.

A little about myself

My name is Kurt Hampel. I am a humanistic integrative therapist, counsellor & life coach, working in the North Wales/Wirral/Liverpool/West Cheshire area. I have worked in this capacity for nearly two decades. My own life was in a mess through alcohol abuse. I sought assistance from AA, who helped me to stay sober for long enough to realise that alcohol was only a symptom, not the cause of my misery. After 6 months of sobriety I decided this couldn’t be it, there must be more to life than that. I met up with an enlightened human being, who was my first counsellor. She helped me to realise that my life could be brilliant, if only I would approach it differently. Her input had such an impact on me that I decided to start training.

Over the years, I have learnt a vast range of models, the majority at Keele University, where I had the privilege of working with Val Harding Davies, John McLeod and many more over a period of 4 years. Recently I have been getting involved with NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and Ericsonian Hypnotherapy, and did my Master Practitioner qualifications with Nlpworks under the excellent guidance of Terry McCoy. I have spent 3 years at Halton College of Further Education, teaching Counselling on introductory, certificate and diploma levels with Brenda Potter, a lifelong mentor, supporter and friend.

I have run countless workshops and seminars for Social Services, MIND (Wirral Mind Fountain Club), Deeside College, John Moores University Liverpool, to name but a few. Topics include depression, self esteem, positive mental health, self harm, anger management, relationships, communication, men’s groups, and many more. In my private practice, I work with individuals, couples and families. I also have considerable experience with people who have been involved in life changing accidents like road deaths and hostage taking. In addition, I work as a supervisor to other counsellors, including trainees.

Who benefits from counselling?

Therapy has suffered from being associated with craziness, madness, mental illness etc., and has therefore been stigmatised. This could not be further from the truth! In my experience, the people who come to me are no different from the ones who do not. The difference is that the ones who come have a notion that life could be somewhat better, they just don’t know how to go about it.

Therapy on a broad base is probably one of the more useful imports from the US of A, where having a shrink is more the norm rather than the exception. Most businesses have either in-house counselling or get outsiders to see to the emotional needs of their employees. They do this, because it makes good business sense. Stress creates anxiety, weakens the immune system, people become more susceptible to illness, which leads to more lost (wo)man-hours, lower productivity, lower profits, and in our world, profit seems to count.

Slowly but surely, having a therapist is becoming much more acceptable - even desirable - sometimes even a badge ‘I care about myself, I have counselling’.