Photo by Sue McLauchlan

My approach

Therapy is a co-operative process. You find words for what’s happening… I listen and check my understanding. We develop a shared picture that’s more useful than the one you had on your own. Just this can be enough: it can be a relief. And you may use the new picture to take the next steps in your daily life.

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

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 can’t 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 and between sessions you’ll use these skills to calm yourself.

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.

Every counselling partnership is different, but here are the kind of things I do in sessions -

• Listen and ask questions which help you explore your experience and make connections.

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

• Ask about your aims - how you’d like things to be.

• Encourage you to keep checking in with your body.

• If you experience different states (thoughts + emotions + behaviour) we may name them and learn their history. We may create a map of how they switch and what triggers the switches. Getting confusing patterns to sit still on one piece of paper is the start of being able to change them.

My work takes into account the way our nervous system is wired - how we get stuck in over-alert or shutdown after past difficulties or 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 our work.

The development of my approach

My approach evolved over 35 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 use are ‘relational’, meaning they are based on this understanding -

I have significant experience / training in -

• 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
• Trauma-informed therapy
• Focusing - a body-based approach to living a fuller life