Welcome to Indlela
Indlela (i-ndle-la) Zulu word meaning path, way, journey, resource, direction.
Sawubona and Hello! My name is Ayanda and I’m a BACP registered Integrative Counsellor based in South East London (SE1). Through my practice, I support clients to reconnect to and re-member themselves.
I work with adults (18+), primarily of colour, in the UK and Europe as well as organisations.
Accepting new clients from w/c 22nd September
In my practice, we consider how you feel as a signal
The intention behind this simple. When we experience harm in the world – whether this is wider society, the worlds of our communities and families or our inner world – this can leave us rattled, questioning who we are, our worth, our value and whether we belong. Those experiences, especially if they are repeated, can become our worlds.
The longer they go unwitnessed and unacknowledged, the more they shape our relationships – with the world, with those around us and with our selves.
This shaping can manifest as feeling:
Anxious
Depressed
Ashamed
Stressed
Traumatised
Unseen or unheard
That you need to be strong and can’t ask for help
That it’s hard to trust yourself or others
Feeling like a fraud or imposter
Overwhelmed
That your value is based on what you do – for a living or for others
Lost or ‘off’
Although not exhaustive, these feelings are all signals from within pointing to parts of you or your experience that you may need to be re-membered or reconnected to. I use re-membering in a dual sense here: both to recall and to put back together.
My practice is called Indlela, the Zulu word for journey, as this is what is required: a journey back to the self. This word also means ‘resource’ or ‘ways of doing things’ and this captures how I facilitate this journey – through the provision of resources that support your journey but also to help you identify the resources you already have within you including your own inner knowing and way of being. This means working with all of who you are – your mind as well as your body and your spirt. This also means recognising the impact your wider social context has had on you and how this may have shaped, and continues to shape, how you feel, know and move through the world.
You can click here to learn more about my approach and training.
How I can support you
I offer 50min weekly and biweekly counselling sessions both online and in-person. Depending on what you’d like to explore, this work can be short (6-12 sessions) or long term with the length of our work being confirmed during our first session. Sessions cost £75 per session.
To help in your decision making, I also offer a free 15 min intro telephone call which will allow us to meet, explore briefly what brings you to therapy and help to determine whether I am the right therapist for you. You can book this, using the button or form below.
You can also find me on Instagram and TikTok where I offer weekly reflective questions to aid self reflection. This also available on my new blog, Umphako Wendlela. Whilst these videos and writings are not a substitute for therapy, they can also help to give you a sense of my style and how I work.
If what I offer doesn’t match what you need from counselling sessions, that’s okay. Here are some colleagues I would recommend.
Some frequently asked questions
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These terms are sometimes used interchangeably to describe the experience of therapy. Counselling is typically more likely to be used to refer to shorter term work on specific issues. Psychotherapy is more likely to be used to refer to more in-depth and longer term work focused on more pervasive and complex issues. I am trained to work in both ways and can move between these approaches where it is necessary.
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This will depend on the nature of the issue that brings you to therapy. During our assessment session we will explore the issue that is bringing you to therapy in more detail and discuss how long we might work together. This could be short term (a minimum of six sessions, I recommend twelve sessions) or longer-term, open-ended work. We will also review our work at regular intervals so that our work stays dynamic and relevant to your needs.
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I use this first session to get a deeper understanding of what is bringing you to therapy and to explore some of the factors that may be influencing your experience. The session is structured around a series of questions which I will send you prior to the session.
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A therapy session will involve us exploring different aspect of the issues you are facing. This is in order to understand their origins, how they may be impacting you and what changes you may want to make based on this understanding. How we approach these issues will be at a pace that feels manageable for you. It will also be shaped by the modality/approach that feels most relevant to what you bring. To learn more of the modalities I use see the ‘About me’ section.
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15min Introductory session: Free
50min assessment session: £75. Subsequent 50min weekly therapy sessions: £75 per session
Online take place via Zoom. In person sessions available on Tuesday evenings in Elephant and Castle (SE1).
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Yes, of course.