Photo by Sue McLauchlan

My approach

As client and counsellor we’ll figure things out together: it’s 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’ve had on your own. You’ll use the new picture to take the next moves in your life.

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.

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

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 -

• Ask questions

• 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.

• 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 the switches.

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 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 explored are ‘relational’, meaning they are based on this understanding -

Approaches in which I’ve had significant experience and training -

• 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