(1).jpg)
Dominica Hamilton-Leathart
BA, MA, PhD Candidate, MBACP Counsellor & Psychotherapist (she/her)
Nottingham, Mansfield, and Online
.png)
Welcome!
My name is Dominica. I'm a thirty-five-year-old bisexual trans woman. I am a fully qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with several years of experience in the voluntary sector and private practice, working with a diverse range of clients.
I am an integrative person-centred therapist who works in Mansfield, Nottingham, and online. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, much of my work has shifted online, allowing me to achieve a broader geographic reach.
I graduated from the University of Nottingham with a First-Class BA in Humanistic Counselling Practice. I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). I have continued honing my craft and passion through continued professional development and regular supervision.
After qualifying as a counsellor, I was awarded a Master's degree in Criminology from Nottingham Trent University in 2018.
I'm currently a PhD candidate in Counselling Studies at the University of Edinburgh. My PhD thesis autoethnographically explores my struggle to embody gender variance under the system of cisheteropatriarchy.
​
My primary academic interests include the therapeutic properties of self-compassion and LGBTQIA+ issues. In addition, my practice is kink, sex work, and poly-affirming. To best serve my clients in these communities, I endeavour to remain abreast of the current research in these areas.
​
​​​​​​
Face-to-face sessions are temporarily closed until Summer 2025.
Online sessions remain available over Zoom. Please email me for more information and to arrange an appointment.
Please download Zoom here: https://zoom.us/download
Basic Theory and Philosophy
​
​
No matter our background, we are affected by hardship or adversity at one time or another. Sometimes, we feel overwhelmed and defeated, at a loss as to what to do next. We may suffer depression, be flooded with anxiety or find ourselves endlessly arguing with those closest to us. Though contacting a mental health professional can be daunting, reaching out for help is a courageous first step in turning our lives around for the better.
Therapy provides a safe and nurturing space to explore our problems, heal psychological wounds, and find solutions tailored to our situation. Therapy can be positively transformative. As we embark on our counselling journey, whenever that may be, we open up to abundant possibilities for living more effectively and authentically in an environment that expands our innate potentialities.
​
As a person-centred therapist, my work is primarily based on person-centred psychology and praxis, which posits an innate forward-moving tendency to maintain and enhance the organism, acting as the vital mainspring in all of us. With the provision of a contained, bounded environment, in the presence of unconditional understanding and respect, we find ourselves moving toward health and wholeness.
​
​ Many of us carry unresolved and unmastered injuries from our past that limit innate possibilities. The preponderance of our emotional wounds dates back to our formative years. These years are the fertile soil for the emergence of self, assumptions of the world, and how we form relationships with others. Relational patterns and templates concerning ourselves and others become established as we're growing up.
Due to unfavourable experiences at home, school, and other areas of our lives, as well as normative messages we internalise from society, a significant portion of us grow up feeling broken, defective, and irredeemable. We expect rejection and think it inconceivable that anyone could love us, least of all ourselves. These core beliefs, undergirded by emotional scars, inform our attitudes and behaviour.
Understanding our emotional traumas and how they genetically and dynamically play out in the present allows us to flip the script and become the authors of our lives. By regaining authorship and authority over our lives, we finally gain access to the happiness denied us.
By retaking narrational primacy, we can experience the rewards of authenticity. Our lives improve personally, relationally, sexually, and spiritually. We learn who we are and what we want and enjoy, embracing what person-centred psychology calls our organismic self.
​
My counselling and psychotherapy practice encourages cultivating inner attitudes of self-compassion, self-empathy, and unconditional acceptance. These interventions help people form a healthy, genuine self-image and heal emotional wounds which hold them back from relational and personal joy.
Of course, we are all different, and our individuality can not be entirely subsumed under generalities. Some of us prefer more solitude than others, for example, and authentic satisfaction may mean finding a different balance of sociality and solitude unique to you. But becoming our true self, accepting and validating its unique composition, is undoubtedly a precondition to emotional wellness and flourishing.
​
​
Know Yourself
Own Yourself
Be Yourself
*The Authenticity Formula
​
Reproduced from the book Authentic: How To Be Yourself And Why It Matters by Professor Stephen Joseph
What Will a Counselling Session Involve?
Each session will involve working together to explore your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, broaden your perspective, and discover new ways of more efficaciously relating to yourself and the world.
This enterprise could involve unpacking and reframing self-critical attitudes towards yourself or, for example, processing painful emotions you've been avoiding for a long time.
Gradually, you may rethink certain assumptions about yourself, relationships, and the environment and apply these insights to make your life more fulfilling. Every session will be an opportunity to examine your world and consider new ways to approach life in a more authentic and healthy way.
As you become more aware of yourself and your options for constructive change, you will feel increasingly empowered and equipped to deal with life's challenges in a more mindful and self-compassionate manner.
Number of Sessions
I will offer as many sessions as you feel you need. Our work together is open-ended. We will check in and discuss your progress periodically and, depending on where you are in your therapy, go about finding a suitable ending. Please know that you are welcome to return at any time. My door is always open.
What Will a Counselling Session Involve?
Each session will involve working together to explore your beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, thereby facilitating the differentiation and expansion of your perspective and discovering and experimenting with new, mature and effective ways of functioning.
This process could involve unpacking and reframing problematic, self-critical attitudes toward yourself or, for example, processing painful emotions you've been avoiding for a long time that continues to impact you in the present negatively.
Therapy enables us to safely and mindfully examine what's going on from a distance, see things multidimensionally, and henceforth promote the emergence and creation of new understandings and solutions.
Gradually, you may rethink certain assumptions about yourself, relationships, and the environment and apply these insights. Every session will allow you to examine your world and consider new and more nuanced ways to move forward that are conducive to your well-being.
As you become more aware of yourself and your options for constructive change, you will feel increasingly empowered and equipped to deal with life's challenges more thoughtfully and self-compassionately.
Number of Sessions
We all work at different rates, and the process of growing cannot be rushed with a time limit. I will offer as many sessions as you feel you need. Our work together is open-ended; thus, you determine the endpoint.
We will check in and discuss your progress periodically and, depending on where you are in your therapy, go about finding a suitable ending.
Please know that you are welcome to return at any time. My door is always open should you wish to recommence your counselling.
More Information About Counselling
​
Counselling sessions are typically fifty minutes long and cost £50 per appointment. Concessionary rates are available for low-income clients, students, NHS workers, and those out of work.
Concessions operate on a sliding scale; therefore, the fee will vary depending on your financial and vocational circumstances and remain open to change throughout your therapy.
Appointments are typically scheduled for the same time and day every week to maintain consistency and momentum. However, while sessions are usually conducted once a week for counselling, further sessions will be scheduled during the same week for psychotherapy.
If you elect to work with me psychotherapeutically, sessions are ordinarily conducted two to four times a week, but you will only pay for two of these sessions every week.
​​
​Free Consultation
Research clearly shows that successful outcomes in counselling depend on the quality of the therapeutic relationship. For you to get the most out of your therapy, you must be able to find a counselling practitioner whom you trust and feel safe working alongside.
With this in mind, your first thirty-minute session is free, allowing us to meet one another beforehand, introduce you to my approach, and ultimately help you determine whether my practice suits you.
This initial meeting can occur via Zoom or face-to-face (currently unavailable). It enables us to address any questions about the counselling process.
We can also review what you'd like to achieve in your therapy. However, this may not always be clear from the beginning and not uncommonly changes as your counselling organically unfolds. You're not obligated to return if you find my approach or person unsuitable.
​
Meet Dominica
I'm a nerd.
​
I'm an avid reader of books and comics and, in full geeky, nerdy self-disclosure, am heavily inspired personally and professionally by Supergirl (Kara Zor-El).
Supergirl embodies compassion, empathy, kindness, and emotional resilience. Kara fights tirelessly for equality and the rights and dignity of all people—values and goals I, too, hold in the highest regard. These values of love, empathy, compassion, and never giving up underpin everything I do in my counselling practice to facilitate healing and empowerment in my clients.
​
My interest in the recuperative role of compassion in my counselling practice can be seen in what Supergirl represents as a symbol—exemplifying a way of being consistent with emotional and social wellness. Like her cousin Superman, Kara, too, became Earth's champion, personifying an indomitable spirit and beacon of hope in a world that often feels replete with ignorance, prejudice and injustice.
Born and raised on Krypton until its destruction, Supergirl experienced the devastating loss of her home and most of her family as a child. Witnessing its annihilation and having to say goodbye to everyone she loved, her lived experience of traumatic loss sensitised her to the heartwrenching pain and suffering of others.
Her parents, Alura and Zor-El, aware of Kyrpton's imminent destruction, ensconced her in a pod that would safely send her to Earth. Although Zor-El had developed technology designed to protect their home town of Argo City from Krypton's obliteration, he couldn't risk his daughter's life. Although Kara spent years in suspended animation, orbiting the yellow sun, she eventually made it to Earth.
Kara's pod was found by her cousin Kal-El. Kal-El placed Kara into the loving care of the Danvers family. Raised by her loving adoptive parents on Earth, Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, alongside her adopted sister Alex, Kara was able to heal and grow. Arriving alone, agonisingly missing her friends and family on Krypton, Kara found herself through her relationships with others—accepting, affirming relationships that helped her effloresce into the most incredible and mightiest force for good ever known.
​
Supergirl shows that through all the pain of our fragility, through all the tribulation and sorrow we face, love upholds and restores us, even in the darkest moments. Love is potent. Love is an antidote. As the late psychoanalyst Erich Fromm put it, "The mature response to the problem of existence is love."
Indeed, the 'S' crest on her suit means 'El Mayarah', which, when translated into English from Kryptonian or Kryptonese, means 'Stronger Together'. We find our individual and collective strength in uniting, helping and strengthening each other. Love moves us away from disjunctive states of shame, hatred, loneliness, and alienation. We're in this together. Blood bonds us all.
To quote J'onn J'onzz, "Supergirl is here to remind us on Earth about what's best in ourselves." We only grow stronger and happier through togetherness. We're hardwired for connection; from the moment we're born, we seek to bond and grow with others, and our happiness and whole potential rests in learning to embrace this reality earnestly.
​
Inspiring Quotes
"So from the very first hours of our lives right through to our last moments, kindness, gentleness, warmth and compassion are the things that can sustain us and help us bear the setbacks, tragedies and suffering that life will rain on us." - Paul Gilbert
​
"Compassion means not picking and choosing who you care about." - Supergirl
​​
"Compassion engages our capacity for love, wisdom, and generosity. It's a beautiful mental and emotional state that is boundless, directionless." - Kristin Neff
​
"The mature response to the problem of existence is love". - Erich Fromm
“Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness.”
― Wilhelm Reich
​
“When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening.” - Carl Rogers
​
"Fear and pain should teach you empathy and compassion." - Supergirl
​
​“In order to become whole, we must try, in a long process, to discover our own personal truth, a truth that may cause pain before giving us a new sphere of freedom. If we choose instead to content ourselves with intellectual “wisdom,” we will remain in the sphere of illusion and self-deception.” - Alice Miller
​
"Other people didn't get to decide who I was. They don't get to decide for you, either. You only get one life, and no one but you should get to decide how to live it." - Supergirl
​
"We are too ready to accept others and ourselves as we are and to assume that we are incapable of change. We forget the idea of growth, or we do not take it seriously. There is no good reason why we should not develop and change until the last day we live." - Karen Horney
​
"In each and every one of you, there is a light, a spirit that cannot be snuffed out. That won't give up" - Supergirl
​​​
"Supergirl is here to remind us on Earth about what's best in ourselves. That's what's most important." - J'onn J'onzz
​​
"The strongest force in our universe is not overriding power, but love". - Carl Rogers
​​
"There's always hope." - Supergirl
​
"Even a person guilty of a crime should be treated with dignity." - Robin Steinberg
Information and Support
As a registered member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP), I faithfully and conscientiously abide by an ethical framework ensuring the highest standards of practice issued by my professional association and governing body. You are welcome to read the BACP's ethical framework here: https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/ethical-framework-for-the-counselling-professions/.
​
​
If you would like to confirm my registration with the BACP and gather further information about the registration and accreditation process, please visit the BACP register here: https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/protecting-the-public/bacp-register/.
​
​
​
​
​
​
LGBTQ+ Clients
​
While finding a counselling practitioner with whom you feel safe and comfortable working alongside, you might find it helpful to have access to support in the interim or specialised professional assistance that may be better suited to your needs.
​
Mermaids - Mermaids support transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and young people until their 20th birthday, as well as their families and professionals involved in their care. They also currently offer web chat support to students up to the age of 25.
​
MindLine Trans+ - MindLine Trans+ is a confidential emotional and mental health support helpline for people who identify as transgender, agender, gender fluid and non-binary.
​
MindOut - MindOut is a mental health service run by and for lesbians, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people. We work to improve the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ communities and to make mental health a community concern.
​
Pink Therapy - Pink Therapy is the largest independent organisation working with gender and sexual diversity clients, aiming to promote high-quality therapy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and others who identify as gender or sexual diversities.
​
​
General
​
Mental Health Support - Mind is here for anyone experiencing a mental health problem. But we know that those of us with LGBTIQ+ identities may face extra challenges around getting the right support. And we sometimes have extra needs or concerns.
​
Samaritans - Offer a safe place for you to talk any time you like, in your own way – about whatever’s getting to you. We won't judge you or tell you what to do, we'll listen to you.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Contact Me
If you have any questions, contact me today, and I will respond as soon as possible. Please note that all communication is protected under the strictest confidence.
​
​
​Phone: 07437211571
Email: dominica@dominicacounselling.co.uk​
​
​
​
​
