Laura Simmons - Counsellor and Clinical Supervisor - Aboyne

05/09/2025

https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/laura-simmons

Are you feeling down, anxious, or not enjoying life? Do you sometimes think "this is not what I thought my life would be like?" Let's chat about how counselling with me might be able to help.

12/08/2025

I have a few spaces available for new clients! Qualified and experienced Person-Centred Counselling, I work with young people (aged 12 and over) and adults, in-person, online or on the phone. Please message me for more details and to book a free introductory consultation 🤍

30/07/2025

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this. Most of you by now will have heard the devastating news about the closure of Mental Health Aberdeen in the Charity’s 75th year last week. I am thoroughly and completely devastated – for myself and my 61 colleagues who have lost our jobs (with no pay for the work we’ve already done in July), for the teams of dedicated volunteers who worked tirelessly with clients in counselling and in our charity shops, for the amazing adult counselling volunteer trainees who recently completed an intense seven-month training course, for the Youth Counsellor trainees who are all nearing the end of their three year training with MHA’s Youth service, for all of our fundraisers and brilliant fundraising team who have done such an amazing job in a very challenging environment… and, of course, our thousands of clients and ex-clients as well as the wider community who engaged with our work through awareness raising events and social media. I am so dreadfully sorry for the loss you’ll all be feeling, and I echo it.

It has been such a tremendous honour to be part of MHA over the years. I have early memories of rattling a collection tin on “Flag Day” in the late 1980s, raising money for the charity then known as “Aberdeen and North East Association for Mental Health”. One of my first paid jobs in this sector was working in one of MHA’s Day Services, and my introduction to counselling practice was via the well-regarded “ACIS Volunteer Counsellor Training” in 2008. I was fortunate enough to be a Volunteer Counsellor at ACIS and One to One Counselling Service Deeside for eight years before the time was right for me to return to University and study for my Masters in Counselling, which then enabled me to combine my experience managing volunteers for another charity with my passion for Person-Centred Counselling, by being appointed as Manager at One to One, a fantastic accessible community-based project that served the local community of Deeside. The trust and confidence placed in me by my long-time mentor, Astrid Whyte, and the unwavering support she has shown me over the years has been a true gift – culminating in her encouragement of my career development to step into her role as MHA’s Counselling Services Manager in 2022.

I’m recognising that my heartbreak is part of the process of grieving… for an organisation I loved deeply, for my role, for all of the beautiful connections I have made over the last 17 years (plus)… as well as the awareness that I (rightly or wrongly) feel partly responsible for this. I keep playing and replaying the last 18-24 months, imagining I’d done something differently, and wishing I’d done more. My colleagues and I deserved more, the institution that was MHA deserved more, and most importantly all of our clients deserved so so much more than a sudden brutal overnight ending to their therapeutic work.

I am, however, cautiously and tentatively optimistic for the future of front-line free counselling for those who most need it. The ACIS Youth team have already rallied (led by the passion and commitment of Alan McTamney and his dedicated team of wonderful staff), there is a core of ACIS Adult counsellors who are considering options and keen to see what they can do, and myself and the One to One team are planning to meet and look at possibilities out here in Aboyne/Banchory. There is a lot of goodwill and public support for these saplings of ideas and, at the moment, for me, it’s a balance between having some time to grieve the loss of MHA while also capitalising on the strength of feeling and emotion that’s around, keeping up some momentum.

If you’ve got this far, thank you so much for reading! If I can help anyone in any way at this time, please reach out… also, if you’d like to chat further about any ideas for the future of the projects (One to One in particular), please contact me via laurasimmons-counselling@outlook.com or by calling/texting 07858 248 395.

20/06/2024

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

01/04/2024

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In 2024 as always, Reframing Autism will not be participating in Autism Awareness or Autism Acceptance Month.

As many of our neurokin will appreciate, April can be an arduous time for the Autistic community, whose voices are often drowned out by non-Autistic led organisations and non-Autistic individuals, whose efforts to make others "aware" of Autism are at times very damaging, all while the things that really matter – genuine acceptance, respect, support and inclusion – are overlooked.

We wish those recognising April as Autism Acceptance Month a productive, invigorating month of amplifying Autistic voices.
The best way you can show your support for the Autistic people in your life is to educate yourself, learning from those with lived experience, and those who are actively neuro-affirming. You can learn more about how to be a great Autistic ally here: https://reframingautism.org.au/service/i-am-an-ally/

For any families or school communities celebrating, we urge you to steer clear of blue, and go red instead, light it up gold, tone it down taupe or rejoice with rainbows! And please steer clear of puzzle pieces.

For any individuals looking to support an Autistic-led organisation, we welcome your donations which will help us to continue to celebrate Autistic identity, embrace the Autistic community and empower Autistic individuals. To make a donation to Reframing Autism, please visit: https://reframingautism.org.au/donate/

Thank you to our wonderful community, as always, for your support.

[Image description: A pink background featuring the Reframing Autism logo. Text in white reads, "To our neurokin: you are enough."]

15/02/2024

So excited to delve into this! I really appreciate Steph Jones’ ( on Instagram) work and I know this book will help me in my practice as I work to embrace the differences and needs of autistic clients in therapy 🥳
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13/02/2024

It’s that time of year again! If you’re able to Kiltwalk for MHA, please do. It’s a great event for an amazing charity, providing free counselling to folk across Aberdeen City and Shire 💚💜🧡

It’s time to get the tartan oot, and book your place for this year’s Kiltwalk!

Join Team MHA on June 2nd, two walk lengths are available - Mighty Stride (18 miles) and Wee Wander (4 miles), you can choose which suits you best

Last year 86 amazing people took part for MHA, so let’s beat that number! Join our Chief Executive, Graeme Kinghorn, who will be taking part in all four Kiltwalks this year! 👏

This year we’ll be offering a number of discounted places, just contact the team on fundraiser@mhaberdeen.org.uk for more information.

Kiltwalk

13/01/2024

Beautifully morning ☀️ Looking forward to meeting lots of folk at the Aberdeen Health and Wellbeing Festival on behalf of Mental Health Aberdeen 💚🧡💜

28/12/2023

| love this post from Bless the Messy - it's crucial to remember that, although society would have us believing otherwise, your worth does not depend on your body shape or size, and you're also not owe anyone “health" (whatever that means!) ❤️
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ALL bodies are good bodies. Yes, ALL. Remember to care about yours, nurture and love it. It's the only one you'll ever have and it deserves unconditional acceptance
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Posted • I’ll never forgot finding a neon post-it with my 15 year old resolutions written, the first being “stay no heavier than 115”. I took that mindset with me through adulthood. Thinking a scale could reflect my worth. Thinking the size of my body could reflect my happiness. The truth is that it’s all garbage. Do not let society scare you into thinking the thing you most need to spend your time, energy, money, and resources on is being thin. It’s just a distraction from true healing, true connection, true community, true self-love, and true peace. Please add any other ideas and suggestions in the comments!! Or tell me your intentions for 2024🩷🌹✨

22/12/2023

If you’re looking for a guide to support you into 2024, if you want to move into the new year with intention, I highly recommend this book! ❤️
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#2024

17/12/2023

It’s ok if all you did was survive the year ❤️

Just a little reminder for us all❤️

21/11/2023

Image reads “Setting boundaries is self-care”.
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Many people struggle to set boundaries in their lives. It’s hard to say “no”, it can feel tough to draw a line in the sand when you don’t want to appear “selfish”. But having standards and looking after ourselves, recognising that we have limited capacity or energy for tasks, is NEVER selfish, it’s crucial.
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If you find setting boundaries hard to do, maybe you’d find it useful to speak to a trained professional counsellor. Counselling can help you explore why this feels to tricky and what part of you is being served by always being there for others but not being there for yourself ❤️
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