My approach

Client and therapist figure things out together: it’s a co-operative process. You find words for what’s happening… I listen and check my understanding. We help each other to create a shared picture we can work with. This shared picture is not something you could have come up with on your own.

Human problems are not just in our heads: we need to connect to our bodies where the anguish keeps happening. If you find your body has times when you cannot think and you react in ways that later don’t make sense, I will teach how to regulate your nervous system using co-regulation . We practice techniques in the sessions. Between sessions you’ll use these skills to calm yourself.

I help you clarify your aims - what you want to work towards. These guide the direction of the work and help us measure progress.

Knowledge from my experience and training will give you new ways of looking at things.

Every counselling partnership is different, but here’s some more things I do in sessions -

• Ask questions

• Check that you are feeling safe, both in your life and in the sessions.

• Highlight your realisations.

• If you experience different states (thoughts + emotions + behaviour) we name them and learn their history. We may create a map of how they switch and what triggers their switches.

It’s helpful at the start to meet weekly for a fixed number of sessions (say 6) and review. You can stop any time. Please see the FAQ for more detail.

My work takes into account the way our nervous system is wired - how we get stuck in over-alert or shutdown after past trauma . The nervous system needs safety in order to recover and heal. Helping each person find their own experience of safety is an important part of my work.

The development of my approach

My approach evolved over years as I moved through different trainings and work settings. In private practice, the needs of each client inform the approach I use.

All the approaches I explored are ‘relational’, meaning they are based on this understanding -

Approaches in which I’ve had significant experience -

• Humanistic especially Person Centred
• Psychodynamic
• Brief counselling
• Cognitive Analytic Therapy. CAT integrates behavioural, CBT and psychodynamic into an active approach.
• Solution Focused Therapy
• Narrative Therapy