How I Work
I am driven by the needs of my clients. My aim is to actively and empathically listen to what you have to say in order to help you get in touch with, understand and express your thoughts and feelings about issues that cause you concern. I want to help you to explore probable sources of your concerns and to co-jointly develop strategies for managing these thoughts and feelings and their accompanying behavioural manifestations.
As such, I help guide and support clients through the over-arching psychological factors which help maintain issues such as, for example:
- low self-esteem
- low mood
- relationship difficulties
- communication difficulties
- thinking distortions
- over-thinking
- lack of self-awareness
- avoidance of emotions
- poor body image
- self-criticism
- negative core beliefs
- control and rebellion
- entrenched patterns of behaviour
- the cycle of self-sabotage
My training is in Transactional Analysis, a theory of personality and communication, but I work integratively drawing on other models and theories in order to meet the individual needs of clients. My approach is ‘relational’ whereby our relationship is an important part of the therapeutic process and it is through the here-and-now of our relationship that we can uncover historical patterns of thinking, feeling, behaving, creating awareness of how these patterns may impact you and the way you relate in the present. We will focus on your wants and needs and together we will explore what you hope to achieve in our time together and what it is you would like to change.
As a Transactional Analysis practitioner, part of my role is to help clients to realise their full potential, by updating strategies for dealing with life which are no longer working for them, replacing them with new ones that do work and enabling them to solve problems using a persons’ full resources as a grown-up. As part of this process, I work with clients to help live a more balanced, happy, self-assured life in the here-and-now. In doing so, clients achieve genuine autonomy:- self-awareness, spontaneity and the capacity for real and meaningful relationships.
Sessions
Following initial contact and a preliminary telephone conversation of about 15-30 minutes, I invite each prospective client to meet for an initial one-off hour’s familiarisation session.
The familiarisation session forms a crucial part of the process of my practice. It gives you the chance to meet with me without commitment and for me to share with you some of my thinking and give you a sense of what to expect in our sessions.
At the end of the meeting I ask you to take the time you need to consider whether or not you would like to proceed. Once we have agreed a time and day you will be asked to sign a contract accepting my terms and conditions.
During our initial session, we can explore what brings you to therapy and how we might work together to achieve your desired aims. If you feel that I am the right therapist for you, and we can work together, we will contract for an agreed number of sessions, normally 6-8, subject to midway review.
The number of sessions will be based upon what you feel you need. I offer both Counselling and Psychotherapy. The difference being that Counselling tends to be short to medium term working in the here-and-now with less complex issues. Psychotherapy is medium to long-term and involves working in greater depth with more deep-rooted issues, historical patterns of relating and, therefore, often more complex issues. Both Counselling and Psychotherapy are closely related and are both ‘Talking Therapies’ they both involve the therapist walking alongside the client as an empathic, non-judgemental listener, supporting and empowering the client in making decisions for themselves about their life.
I work on a short, medium or long-term basis with individuals and I have considerable experience of working with Adults, Couples and Adolescents with a wide range of presenting issues.
Areas of psychotherapy and counselling I work with include: -
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Suicidal thoughts
- Self-harm
- Low-self esteem
- Trauma
- Abuse
- Bullying
- Carer support
- Discrimination
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Cancer
- Family issues
- Infertility
- Low self-confidence
- Miscarriage
- Passive aggressive behaviour
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Separation and divorce
- Rape
- Affairs and betrayals
- Relationship problems
- Communication issues
- Bereavement
- Career counselling
- Disabilities
- Body image
- Feeling sad
- Thinking distortions
- Paranoia
- Pregnancy and birth
- Redundancy
- Stress
- Work-related stress
If you are suffering from an issue that is not listed above, please feel free to call me to discuss this as I may be able to help and, if not, may be able to refer you to another more appropriate colleague.
Therapies offered, include: -
- Transactional analysis
- Relational therapy
- Re-decision therapy
- Mindfulness
- Couples counselling
- Group therapy
- Trauma therapy
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