How Counselling works and what it helps

Therapy can help with a number of areas including anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, feelings of isolation, bereavement or relationship Issues. I offer a warm, safe and non-judgemental space in which you can open up and be yourself in order to explore any difficulties troubling you. It can offer the opportunity to gain new insights and awareness so that you can move forward in your life, free from past patterns of behaviour or self-limiting attitudes and beliefs. It can be quite a revelation to discover the unconscious blocks that may have made you feel suffocated or imprisoned. You start to feel lighter and freer and no longer weighed down by the past, feeling whole again and in touch with your true self. In this way counselling can be liberating and transformative.

My approach

I use an integrative approach combining various theoretical models suited to a person's individual needs. It is a collaborative approach in which we work together to make sense of what is happening in your life and help you gain a deeper understanding of the reasons that have brought you to counselling. Often these include negative ways of thinking or unhelpful patterns or behaviours that have their origins in childhood and leave you feeling stuck and unable to move on in your life. I draw on techniques from cognitive behavoural therapy to uncover how distorted thinking can affect a persons' beliefs about themselves and others. I also help with communication issues when working with couples.

What to expect from therapy

Whether you are an individual or a couple, I see my role as a companion and collaborator (rather than an expert) on your journey of self-exploration and together as a team we explore the issues troubling you. I don’t offer advice but respect your ability to make your own choices and find your own solutions. I endeavour to point things out as truthfully as I can as if I am holding up a very honest mirror so you can see yourself as you really are which is often quite different from how you would like to see yourself. Because of this, therapy can sometimes feel challenging and uncomfortable as we uncover blind spots and areas where you might have made excuses to yourself rather than facing up to things. Confronting your fears can be painful but also liberating and in order for this to happen we need to build a strong confidential therapeutic alliance in which you feel safe and can trust me enough to let me into your inner world. I aim to help you untie the unconscious knots that bind you and so you can be free from attitudes that make you feel imprisoned and stuck.