What happens in therapy?

The length of the therapy usually depends upon how deep-seated the issue is. However it is your choice to decide how long you would like to continue for. Sometimes people arrive already knowing they want to have long term therapy.

I will endeavour to be empathic, non-judgemental and genuine to create a relationship where you can begin to feel safe and open up. This is often a relief when we have needed to bottle things up from family and friends or have no one else to share things with.

This is an opportunity for you to explore yourself, what troubles you and how this may have been shaped by your past or current circumstances. Many of the things that keep us stuck are out of our awareness and so the aim will be to find a safe, measured way to explore this. To facilitate this process I offer listening, support and comfortable challenge, and a variety of effective ways of accessing the unconscious.

Although there are no guarantees with therapy, this process creates insight that we can then use together working in partnership to make meaning of what you’ve been experiencing. Some problems may disappear or neutralise, some may diminish but won’t ever go away. The aim of therapy as Jung says: ‘Is not to fix our problems but to outgrow them’.

For example from ‘I am lonely’ to ‘I can be me and I belong!’

What informs my approach?

I describe myself as an integral, relational therapist and my approach is drawn from the following:

Person-centred therapy, based on the work of Carl Rogers who believes that we have an actualising tendency, an internal wisdom, that drives us to want to grow, develop and heal. That this can be harnessed when the therapist offers a relationship based upon empathic understanding, non-judgement and congruence (endeavouring to be as real a human being as possible), and when the therapist doesn’t get in the clients way or control the agenda with their expertise.

Trauma informed therapy – that standard talking therapies can sometimes hit a road block or be unhelpful when an individual has been traumatised. That learning from neurobiology and how trauma can be locked in the body is essential to working effectively with traumatised clients.

Psychodynamic theory – that our earliest relationships and childhood experiences can heavily shape how we operate in and perceive the world as adults, and that this is often happening totally outside of our awareness. This accessing of parts of the unconscious is key to understanding unhelpful thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Transpersonal/Jungian psychology – that we can, through therapy, identify our sense of purpose and find a greater sense of fulfilment, connection and meaning in our lives.

I see my on-going professional development as fundamental to my being the best therapist I can for my clients. Consequently, I am in monthly supervision and am currently undertaking a two- and half-year Advanced Diploma in Psychotherapy at Revision.

I work with adults from age 18 upwards and was previously a counsellor at Kingston Women’s Centre; The Mulberry Centre (supporting those affected by cancer or bereavement); and Off the Record (a service for young people aged between 11 & 24).

I work confidentially according to the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions which can be accessed on the BACP website at https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/ethical-framework-for-the-counselling-professions/ .