There are times in our lives when we experience problems that we find difficult to cope with. Perhaps you feel unexplainably low or possibly you just don’t feel yourself but are not sure why. Maybe your problems are hard to explain or share with those close to you, or perhaps you don’t feel that you have any one to turn to.

You may be finding a significant relationship difficult to manage healthily. Or there might be a specific issue or life event that you can connect your difficulties to and want help with. These difficulties may be affecting your quality of life, relationships with others & emotional well-being.

I can give you the opportunity to explore how you feel and make sense of your difficulties in a safe, non-judgemental & confidential environment. By working together, we can help you find greater personal understanding, insight & self-awareness which supports you with making long-lasting changes and leads to an increased sense of well-being and more fulfilled life.

My aim is to help you gain the confidence and capacity to better understand & support yourself.

Please get in touch for a free confidential conversation and I will happily answer any questions. Maybe together we can work out if therapy is right for you

I offer both in-person and on-line sessions. We can discuss your needs and what is right for you during our initial telephone conversation. I offer short and long-term therapy, but the length of therapy will depend on the difficulties that you are facing and how long you wish to stay working with me.

In-person sessions are held at a private venue which offers a peaceful, natural, and welcoming environment. My therapy room is light and spacious and enjoys views of the surrounding semi-rural space which there is also opportunity to work in.

The most important thing in therapy is finding the right therapist for you – this comes down to your own preference and who you feel comfortable and a connection with.

My aim is to offer you a reflective, collaborative & reparative space with which to explore your problems.

Our therapeutic relationship will be central to our work together. It is very different to the type of one you will experience with friends, family & colleagues because it is secure, confidential & contained and the focus is on your experience of your problems. I will accept all your experiences & feelings as valid and help you to make sense of them. Together we will work through what you feel is best for you and in doing so you may start to manage your life more affectively.

I consider myself an integrative therapist as I have trained in and draw on several therapeutic approaches to work with clients’ past and current challenges. Attachment theory particularly informs this, but I have also studied psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, humanistic and trauma informed approaches.

I am curious about how our attachments in life (with family, friends, community, and the wider world) shape our individual growth and emotional development. I recognise that early life bonds & experiences, relationships, and the environment that we grow up in define & influence who we are and our current difficulties.

When we have secure attachment experiences that are consistent, loving, predictable and attuned, we develop emotional security in our self and in the world at large. When our attachment experiences are less than secure, perhaps when they have been inconsistent, abusive, traumatic, or neglectful, we might struggle to have a secure sense of ourself and perhaps feel unable to cope with life

Overtime, by developing a secure and trusting attachment with me, I hope that our relationship becomes a container for curiosity and exploration; to help make sense of, process and come to terms with your difficult feelings and experiences. The hope is that our relationship will provide a space for developing a more secure sense of yourself and a catalyst for change.

I also appreciate how emotional responses to situations affect us physically. These somatic symptoms can often be overlooked or go unrecognised; however, they are important in helping us to recognise why and how we react to certain situations in the here and now, and how they can link to much earlier experiences. Being able to better calm your body can also help to calm your mind. So, I pay attention to both emotional and physical responses to enable the body and the mind to work closer together.

Taking these approaches helps to uncover the less conscious reasons why and how you may relate to people or why you feel stuck in your present problems. It can allow old patterns to change and assist in the better management of your thoughts, feelings and responses. Importantly, it encourages change at a much deeper & meaningful level and in a long-lasting way. And as you start to accept yourself, you can re-connect with your strengths & start to feel more empowered.

Self-help reading can be a great way to support you as well as assist the process of therapy, but this doesn’t have to be through reading ‘self-help’ books. Clients often ask for suggestions, although in my experience how much a book helps is very much down to the individual experience of the book and their connection with it. Sometimes insights about ourselves are gained simply through the sharing of other people’s stories.

There is a wealth of self-help books written on many different topics, which come with all sorts of different approaches and angles. If you would like a more specific recommendation, we can discuss what sort of book might best connect with you.

Listed below are some of the books I have recommended – not all are ‘self-help’, but they may be helpful.

And there are also images of my own reading on this page too.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
by Bessel van der Kolk

Why Love Matters by Sue Gerhardt

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

Maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb

Couch Fiction by Philippa Perry

Mating In Captivity by Esther Perel

The State of Affairs by Esther Perel