Personal statement

My name is Brett Buchanan and I work as a Counsellor within the Disability and Wellbeing Team. I work part-time on a Thursday and Friday, offering Wellbeing Assessments, 1-2-1 Counselling and Group work. I trained as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, qualifying in 2008 and have since become interested in other styles of counselling including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and would regard my counselling approach as integrated, drawing on different perspectives to meet the need of whoever I am working with. I love my job and believe passionately in the impact that good mental health provision can have of people. I’m particularly interested in anxiety and depression and find real connection in working with people beyond the label of a mental health diagnosis. I take a great deal from helping people find new perspectives that empower them and allow them to go beyond a sense of self that is typically fear based and limiting. The work done in therapy offers potential to impact not only University life, but our wider relationships and career beyond our studies. In addition to working at University, I am a trained Supervisor and offer supervision to Counsellors in their counselling practice. I volunteer with CRUSE Bereavement Scotland and work as a tutor on the Counselling Skills Course run by The Centre for Lifelong Learning at Strathclyde. I also work with four legged family, my black lab Rudi, who is a therapet.