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Supporting Your Well-Being

If you’re struggling with mental or emotional health difficulties, we can help.

Supporting Your Well-Being

If you’re struggling with mental or emotional health difficulties, we can help.

Who We Are

The Well-Minded Practice has been helping clients all around the country, and also overseas, to cope with many of life’s more difficult challenges since it opened its doors in 2011. Working from the human givens approach, a brief, solution-focused approach, we help people feel better and move on in their lives as quickly as possible. Practical and flexible, it combines the latest insights from neuroscience and psychological research with proven therapeutic techniques from a wide range of approaches to provide highly effective interventions tailored to individual clients.

Our Treatment Focus

All forms of mental distress arise because, in one way or another, people’s physical or emotional needs are not being met. Our essential needs and our innate resources to help meet them - the ‘givens’ of human nature - are at the heart of our approach. If our needs are met in balance, making us confident about our place in the world and the people we connect with, we don’t suffer from disabling conditions, such as anxiety, stress, depression, addictions, phobias or panic attacks. Our focus is to help individuals identify their unmet needs, seek ways to redress that balance and teach important life-coping skills.

Our Patient Promise

We promise to offer practical help and powerful psychological interventions that deal with mental and emotional distress in the here and now, working with the individual towards their goal.

About: Joanna Baker HG Dip.P. MHGI SFHEA

Psychotherapist and counsellor Joanna Baker

Joanna is a qualified and highly experienced psychotherapist who has helped many hundreds of individuals move forward from periods of difficulty in their life. With extensive experience working with all forms of emotional distress, Joanna always strives to ensure that alongside specific work carried out during appointments, clients have a firm foundation of understanding and a set of tools to continue to maintain their own emotional health proactively in the future.

As well as her therapeutic practice Joanna is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), an advanced level of professional standing that evidences expertise in teaching and learning in higher education. She has had hundreds of hours in the classroom teaching and training students and staff. She and her team offer student mental health and wellbeing training, psychoeducation and mediation services to the higher education sector. Joanna works with Student Minds, the UK's student mental health charity and is an assessor for the University Mental Health Charter.

Returning to her roots Joanna is a senior tutor and assessor on the Human Givens Diploma in Psychotherapy, a Human Givens Supervisor and hosts their 'Ask The Expert' podcast.

In 2021 Joanna was appointed as a director of One Step Borders, a charity that supports young people in the Scottish Borders experiencing emotional and/or mental health challenges.

In her spare time she loves walking, running, sailing and pretty much anything that gets her out in nature. She is also a qualified yoga teacher.

Joanna holds an Enhanced DBS certificate and is registered with the HGI, PSA and ICO.

Testimonials

“I saw Jo at her practice for help with anxiety about my forthcoming labour. I had gone through a traumatic experience with the birth of my first child and was highly anxious about experiencing the same with my second. Jo understood my concerns and worked using the REWIND technique and a guided visualisation. She also taught me a breathing techniques to help not only with anxiety but also with pain. I went on to have an easy, drug free delivery. I was able to utilise the tools that Jo had given me. Jo is amazing at her job. She is very friendly and caring whilst maintaining professionalism throughout. I wouldn’t hesitate to see her again and would highly recommend her to anyone. Thank you so much Jo.”

A, Lichfield

‘I got in touch with Jo in a last ditch attempt to improve my sleep. Being someone who believed they functioned pretty well on limited sleep and that perhaps I was just destined to not sleep well as my dad didn’t either I wasn’t convinced much would change. However she had been highly recommended by a friend so I gave it a go. It was the best decision I could have made. My whole attitude to sleep has changed, I’m completely sold! Since working with Jo I now sleep well and as a consequence my whole wellbeing has improved. My stress levels are lower, I’m more motivated, I have more energy, I can focus better at work and my family tell me I’m much less grumpy! I cannot recommend Jo highly enough.’

Brian, Burton on Trent

‘I went to see Jo as I was experiencing symptoms of PTSD. I had a car accident 8 months ago and had been off work since. I was having regular flashbacks and panic attacks. I struggled to leave the house let alone even contemplate getting in a car again. I saw Jo for 6 sessions and I am now happily on a phased return to work and have even taken some local journeys - as the driver! I can’t thank Jo enough. I am getting my life back.’

Sam, Ashbourne

"Having been fortunate to work with Jo for over 3 years, I can testify her incredible strengths in her roles as a therapist, trainer and Co ordinator. Her willingness to help and share expertise, support and motivate her team is exceptional."

Miriam Wright

Director at Wellness Counselling and Psychotherapies Accredited Counsellor, Clinical Supervisor & Psychotherapist

"I have contracted Jo to lead and deliver the psycho-education programme at the University of Derby for the last 6 academic years. Jo has that very valuable and rare ability to instantly develop rapport and create a safe and dynamic learning environment. She also happens to be a highly effective teacher and therapist."

Jo Jones - Assistant Registrar - Student Services Manager, University of Derby, January 2021.

"Jo is a highly skilled therapist and educator. I have watched Jo's impressive ability to engage a range of audiences in education settings. And a number of people who have received counselling support from Jo have told me how helpful and effective she has been."

Gavin Jinks

Senior Lecturer at University of Derby Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy

I have thoroughly enjoyed working collaboratively with Joanna to better understand the relationship between learning, teaching and student wellbeing. Joanna is an advocate for an institutional approach to embedding student wellbeing rather than seeing it as the responsibility of one department. I have benefitted greatly from Joanna’s expertise in the area of psychoeducation. Joanna’s approach is collaborative, supportive, engaging and challenges people to reevaluate their practice to recognise what supports student wellbeing and student success. I can recommend Joanna for her expertise, approach and as a valued colleague.

Dr Tamsin Bowers-Brown

Head of Social Justice and Pedagogic Practice, University of Derby

"Jo is a national leader in her field. She is dynamic in her approach to building projects that are multi-disciplinary, collaborative and inclusive. Jo adds tremendous value in all of the strands of her work. She is highly skilled in her field. She carries a body of knowledge and is able to translate this effectively to her audience and clients. In all of the projects I have worked on with Jo, I have been impressed by her presence and capacity to create positive transformative change."

Dr David Patton - SFHEA, Senior Criminology Lecturer, Speaker & Author. Life Coach & Interpersonal Conflict Mediator.

Jo is a nationally recognised expert in student wellbeing and psycho-education, as has been evidenced by her work for Student Minds, the Human Givens College and consulting for universities and HE projects beyond the University of Derby. Jo has contributed to sector understanding of how teaching and learning can support student and staff mental health. This can be seen in her production of a video sharing best practice for Advance HE and the national recognition the work of the Psycho-education Team has received. She has been active across the education sector, delivering training to schools and universities and providing content for national resources, such as the Student Space website.

Gareth Hughes - PFHEA, Psychotherapist, Research Lead, lecturer, writer.

University of Derby, Student Minds,

Human Givens College

I have had the pleasure of working with Joanna on our staff induction and other staff development requirements. Joanna is one of the most passionate colleagues I have worked with. She is super helpful and always responds with great insight and workable solutions.

Bev Millinchip - Organisational Development Manager, University of Derby

Jo's dedication to supporting our students is amazing. She works with us in such an open way; listening and understanding. This leads to considered outputs that really get to the heart of what our Joint Honours students need.

Suzanne Ap-Thomas - Joint Honours Lead, University of Derby

What's inspirational teaching? For me it means creating a safe learning environment where it's ok to ask questions, make mistakes and not feel stupid. It's being knowledgeable and able to impart that knowledge to others on a level they can understand. It's having an ability to sense the room, know when to push and when to consolidate, when to reassure and when to stretch. It means having a heart, being kind yet firm, clear in expectations, encouraging learning for learnings sake and being consistent and fair. It means giving people belief in what they can do, instilling confidence and making sure students are safe to use the skills beyond the classroom. It means changing lives, beliefs, shifting what you thought you knew and making you challenge yourself and your ideas. It means leaving your students wishing to shout the learning from the roof tops for the world to hear because it's so incredible. I've been so lucky to be on the receiving end of all this all week and just know that being part of this will change lives. Thank you both.

Laura Young - Still Minds Education

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Learn more

Supporting Your Well-Being

Supporting Your Well-Being

Who We Are

Our Treatment Focus

Our Patient Promise

About: Joanna Baker HG Dip.P. MHGI SFHEA

Testimonials

#StandWithUkraine

Need immediate help?

Samaritans

Samaritans

Samaritans

Shout

Samaritans

Samaritans

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