About Dan Lupton

Careful Listening; A Real Response; Moving Forward Together. When things get tough, you need someone safe and caring to help you.

I focus on relationships - with yourself and with others - from an Integrative perspective, and use Mindfulness and Body-based approaches that can help connect inner emotions with outer challenges. I work with Individuals and Couples in Frome on the Somerset/Wiltshire border, within easy reach of Bath, Bradford-on-Avon, Warminster, Trowbridge, Wells, Glastonbury and North Dorset.

Individual Counselling - A safe place to explore feelings and patterns of behaviour:

For many people, Counselling is the first time they feel fully heard and accepted, without judgement. Talking things through in a safe, confidential space can clarify confusion, connect things up and build confidence. I work gently and supportively, affirming qualities you have and exploring painful areas. I believe challenges provide our greatest learning, if approached with kindness and sensitivity. I am interested in exploring the ’quiet, still centre’ of ourselves that can help increase inner strength and confidence.

Couples Counselling - Listening, being heard, and exploring difference:

In the Initial stages of a relationship, differences within a couple can feel wonderful. We feel complete, met and fulfilled - and we inevitably bring experiences and expectations from the past into the relationship. As time passes, we adapt to each other and form a ’Relationshape’ - a subtle, unspoken ’way of being together’, which may work well and may also become frustrating.

When there is distance and misunderstanding, couples counselling can help. An impartial, third person can help clarify communication, leading to deeper listening and more acceptance of each others’ differences. This can bring more respectful and satisfying relationship or, where appropriate, a better ending.

Mindfulness & Spirituality - Focusing on the ’here and now’ & exploring deeper within:

By bringing our attention to the present moment and focusing on breath and body sensation, we can get a simpler perspective on difficult mental states. Repeated practice can improve our quality of attention and help us feel calmer and stronger. Feelings and thoughts that once engulfed us can feel less overwhelming, as we watch them come and go without being swept away by them. I am happy to bring Mindfulness practices into client work as well as working with existing spiritual practices and beliefs.

Spiritual enquiry can help connect with a deeper sense of self and our place in the universe, and meditation, therapy and holistic exercise can counterbalance deep-seated habits of racing thought, repetitive emotion and locked-in body tension. I regard this enquiry as both very practical and deeply mysterious.

Illness, Death & Dying - The Non-Negotiables of Life:

I have a long-standing interest in the intimate connection of mind and body. I believe psychological change through counselling can help with the integrity and functioning of the body, as part of a holistic approach to healing, especially aroung long-term, chronic conditions with no obvious cause.

The prospect of death, or the death of someone close, can forcibly change our sense of self. Where feelings heightened among friends and family, counslling can provide space to explore these changes without being judged.

My training, work experience and any achievement

Diploma in Humanistic & Integrative Counselling from Bath Centre for Psychotherapy & Counselling (BCPC);
Member of British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (MBACP); I work to BACP & BCPC Codes of Ethics;
Relate Institute Couples Counselling: Conversion Course for Qualified Therapists (Attachment & Family Systems Perspectives);
Jill Gabriel ’Relationshapes’ Couples Counselling Course;
Mindfulness Training: Teacher Training Retreat Level 1 - Bangor University; Mindfulness in Medicine (with Jon Kabat-Zinn) - Oxford MBCT Centre; Insight Dialogue (with Gregory Kramer) - Gaia House; Self-Compassion (with Christopher Germer & Kristin Neff) - Bangor University; Mindfulness in 1:1 Work - Bangor University; MBCT - Mindfulness, Insight & Liberation - Gaia House;
Further CPD Training: Embodied Relational Therapy; Working with Domestic Violence; Working with Alcohol & Drug Misuse; Child Protection. Self Esteem; NLP; Anger Management; Family Therapy; Mental Health & Couples; Conflict Resolution; Bodymind; Talking About Sex in Therapy; What are Fathers Good For?; Neuroscience & Therapy; Attachment in Therapy; Imago Couples Work;

Experience: On-Going Private Practice; Relate (Avon & Somerset) Couples Counselling; HELP Short-Term Counselling Agency; Barnardo’s Family Centre; SWADS Alcohol & Drugs Agency; Splitz Men’s Domestic Violence Group;
25 years experience Psychotherapy & wide range of Complementary Health approaches’
40 years experience Self-enquiry through Meditation & Yoga;
20 years membership of Men’s Groups;
Experience of both having, and living alongside, Long-Term Illness;
Experience of Boarding School and Bullying Issues;
Ran Innovative Manufacturing Business in Complementary Health field in 1990’s;
Semi-professional Music & Theatre performer in 70’s & 80’s;
Deep love and experience of Nature & Fieldcraft, especially Birdwatching;
I live in Frome with my wife & have a grown up daughter;