Anna Elston

Practitioner Directory

Services

Addiction counsellor and clinical supervisor

About me and my practice

Anna Elston is an NCPS and Addiction Professionals accredited addiction counsellor and qualified individual and group clinical supervisor, with a private practice based in Christchurch, Dorset, serving clients locally in Christchurch and Bournemouth and working online with clients throughout the UK and internationally.

Outline of offer

Anna specialises in addiction counselling and supports individuals affected by alcohol dependency, substance misuse, gambling, pornography, sex and love addiction, work and other behavioural addictions. She also works with partners and family members affected by addiction and with people experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, shame and low self-esteem alongside addictive behaviours.

Anna holds a First Class Honours Degree in Addiction Counselling from the University of Bath and has almost two decades of experience working across private, public and charitable addiction services, including residential treatment centres, structured day programmes and outpatient treatment services and aftercare. Her therapeutic approach is integrative, person-centred and trauma-informed, drawing on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, relapse prevention and other evidence-based approaches. 

Anna provides confidential, individual addiction counselling in Christchurch, Dorset, and online counselling throughout the UK and worldwide. She also works with professionals and internationally mobile clients, including Fulbright scholars, and has experience supporting people in demanding professional and executive roles where alcohol, substances or compulsive behaviours have become problematic.

Experience

Clinical supervision

Anna is a qualified clinical supervisor offering individual and group supervision to counsellors, therapists, support workers and other professionals, both in person in Christchurch, Dorset and online.

She has particular expertise in supervision within addiction treatment and has worked with therapists and multidisciplinary teams in established treatment centres and clinical settings. She is currently a clinical supervisor to therapists at The Priory, alongside other professional supervision work.

Anna trained at the Centre for Supervision and Team Development (CSTD) in London with Robin Shohet and Joan Wilmot, completing training in Core Supervision, Therapeutic Supervision using the Seven-Eyed Model, Group Supervision and Advanced/Integration Supervision.

Her supervision work is grounded in curiosity, reflection, professional development and the therapeutic relationship. She offers a supportive but appropriately challenging space in which practitioners can explore their clinical work, professional identity, ethical considerations, boundaries, stuckness and the wider systems in which they work.

Anna welcomes enquiries from individual counsellors and therapists, organisations and treatment providers looking for experienced individual or group clinical supervision, particularly where addiction, trauma, complex presentations or compulsive behaviours form part of the clinical work.