Psychotherapy and Counselling
Psychotherapy and Counselling can support you to see the world and your challenges from a different perspective, to enable you to make choices that are available to you from conscious awareness.
Psychotherapy is a collaborative process, during which I will always strive to establish with you a safe and comfortable environment. In this safe space, you can talk and explore in a curious and non-judgmental way your thoughts, feelings, somatic sensations, and imagination to support you in developing a better understanding of yourself and your situation. This process can feel very intense at times, and you might experience different emotions and sensations such as anger, upset, sadness or excitement. These emotions are normal and part of the therapeutic experience. My role is to guide you while you are trying to understand your feelings and sensations, and you are welcome to ask me anything you want about the therapeutic process.
My role as a Psychotherapist is to guide you through the challenges of being in therapy by providing empathy, curiosity and intuitive responses, to enable you to take part in the process of discovering your creativity, spontaneity and potential, which will support you in creating a life that is more fulfilling. I will not give you diagnoses or advice on your mental health or prescribe medication.
What theoretical thinking informs my therapeutic practice?
I hold a Professional Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and an MA in Psychotherapy and Healing Practice which is accredited by Middlesex University. The course covered psychodynamic theory and analysis from a Jungian perspective and required me to be in supervision and personal therapy for many years.
My approach is Integrative, Humanistic and this means that, together, we will always focus on you as an individual and take into consideration all your needs including mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and creative. I will always strive to offer you an autonomy and choice to decide what you would like to achieve from your sessions and the areas of your life that you would like to develop more.
Additionally, to talking therapy I offer dream interpretation work, inner child work, somatic expressions, and trauma processing. I might also invite you to engage in reflective experiences to develop new self-awareness which could enable you to have more choices and to take more responsibility for your feelings, needs, thoughts, and actions.
What can Psychotherapy and Counselling help with?
People come to Psychotherapy and Counselling for many different reasons, often when they feel that they would like to change something, but they might not be sure how, or which direction to go next. You do not need to be in crisis or have a mental health illness to have Psychotherapy.
Some of the reasons why people come to Psychotherapy include anxiety, feeling like you can’t cope, feeling lonely, after a big change in life, such as a loss of a job or bereavement, moving to a new place, dealing with stress at work, home or in relationships, or in any other aspects of life, lack of confidence, emptiness, mood swings, coping with the impact of abuse or other traumatic events, or long-term illness, panics or phobias.
Please see here for what Psychotherapy and Counselling can support you with.
How will Psychotherapy or Counselling help me?
Psychotherapy and Counselling recognises the lasting impact of life experiences and how our conscious and unconscioues interpretation of these experiences impacts on our ability to see the world around us, our motivations, and relationships. It acknowledges that different experiences will support us or can impact more negatively on our ability to engage with daily activities and on our image of ourselves.
In therapy session, you will be encouraged to think and explore how you see your current situation, and how your interpretation of what happened to you impacts your life now and not what is wrong with you. The focus of therapy is on exploring and reflecting on your past, present and your dreams and hopes for the future, rather than making a diagnosis.
I offer short term therapy where you can focus on specific issue or more in depth, longer term therapy. In depth Psychotherapy, can be a life-changing experience that can support you in fulfilling your potential. It can bring up to the surface new emotions, perspectives, sensations and challenges and it is often recommended for a longer time, to enable you to process and assimilate new perspectives. I would recommend a minimum of six months of weekly sessions.
First Session
After initial contact, we will book an appointment for the first session. This would give us a space, to meet, and to explore in more depth your reason for looking for therapy, your expectations, and your life history. You will also be able to ask me questions about Psychotherapy and Counselling, how I work, and my qualification and experience and I will introduce my Therapy agreement to you. After this session, you can decide if you want to continue.. You do not have to decide or commit yourself to therapy during the first session. I will keep the space open for you for a week. However, you are welcomed to take more time, but I will not be able to guarantee availability.