What it like to be in therapy with me
I offer talking therapy that also includes the body in the conversation. This is because the body is where emotions are felt and trauma is stored. So it’s important that we don’t just work with the mind.
I endeavour to not be ‘the expert’ but to show up as a real, genuine human being with humility and kindness. Everyone is unique and I can never be the expert on you or what you are facing. Nevertheless I have professional experience and expertise, as well as my own experience of being in therapy.
I aim to work in partnership to support you to understand yourself so that you’re not alone and don’t have to hide anymore; to understand your internal confusion and why it’s there; to rebuild parts of your internal scaffolding that are shaky and crumble under pressure; to create a new relationship where all of you can feel held and seen even the anger and the shame, and where you can mourn what you’ve lost or never had.
What informs my approach?
As an integrative transpersonal psychotherapeutic counsellor, my therapeutic model is a synthesis of these core approaches:
Person-centred counselling is based on the work of Carl Rogers. I believe we have an "actualising tendency" - an innate drive to grow, develop, and heal. This can be harnessed when the therapist endeavours to offer a relationship based on empathy, congruence and an absence of judgement. For me, that means being as genuine and real as possible and trying not to get in your way by controlling the agenda with my own "expertise" or letting my own stuff skew the picture.
Trauma informed therapy From my experience standard talking therapies can often stall when a client’s trauma is pre-verbal (from before we had words) or when the therapy inadvertently reinforces the trauma. Neurobiology and mindfulness tell us that trauma can be locked in the body and so including the body in the therapy conversation can be essential to working effectively in this space. In this work, high doses of empathy are essential.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy Our earliest relationships and childhood experiences heavily shape how we perceive and interact with the world as adults, and this “operating system” is largely running outside of our conscious awareness. Being able to access these parts of our unconscious is key to understanding unhelpful thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The relational dynamic between the client and therapist can become an invaluable way to learn about these patterns.
Transpersonal/Jungian psychotherapy This takes the work to another level, tapping into the soulful wisdom we collectively hold inside ourselves. By working symbolically, we can reach places – such as deep trauma - that are often impossible to reach through the rational mind alone. Working with dreams, myths and art can create access to our “right brain” as a way of connecting with entrenched patterns to achieve a greater sense of integration and a greater freedom to be who we are.
I work confidentially according to the UKCP and BACP ethical frameworks for the profession. You can find these on their websites.
UKCP https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/about-ukcp/how-we-are-structured/ukcp-committees/ethics-committee/code-of-ethics/