About me

I tend to be described as warm, calm and thoughtful, and I hope this is how you’ll experience me.

I find I’m able to tune into the feelings and sensations of others without being overwhelmed by those feelings myself, bringing a sense of stability and groundedness.

If you’re familiar with the different approaches to therapy, you may want to know that I’m a humanistic integrative counsellor, and draw particularly on concepts from attachment theory.

And what I really want you to know is that I LOVE my work.

Bereavement counsellor Katy Ruffels in one of her therapy rooms, smiling at the camera

My route into working with bereavement

I felt a pull to work with grief and loss right from the beginning of my counselling training.

I’m often asked whether I find it depressing, and the answer is no, I really don’t. To me it feels like the most natural theme, and the most fundamental of human experiences. 

Then, as I began the second stage of my training, I experienced a major and unexpected bereavement myself. I stepped away for two years and, when I returned, I felt even more certain that this was what I wanted to do. My lived experience brought depth to my understanding.

I chose a placement with a national bereavement support charity and one at a local hospice.  Working with a huge range of clients showed me, over and over again, the difference that therapeutic support can make.

Now I have my own busy private practice, and each time I meet a new client I feel the privilege of doing this work.

But I don’t work only with bereavement

While I specialise in grief and loss, my qualification is general, and the work often expands out into other areas of life.

My training, qualifications and memberships

I’m a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and work within its ethical framework.

I have a Level 4 Diploma in Integrative Therapeutic Counselling, awarded by the CPCAB, and this is what qualifies me to practise in the UK.                                           

Other recent training courses have included:

  • Two-day intensive mindfulness training, PESI, January 2025

  • Grief and Autism: Cruse Bereavement Support, day training and conference, October 2024

  • Working with Relational Trauma: Dealing with Disorganised Attachment, training by Carolyn Spring, October 2024

  • Introduction to grief and hoarding behaviour, training with Cruse Bereavement Support, September 2024

  • The grieving brain: the surprising science of how we learn from love and loss, by Mary Frances O’Connor, March 2024

  • Working with bereavement involving drug and alcohol misuse, Cruse Bereavement Support day training, May 2023

Prior to training as a counsellor I also spent a year as a Samaritans volunteer.

Get in touch if you’d like to arrange an initial consultation

Contact me