About me
I trained as a transpersonal, integrative psychotherapist and hold a diploma in counselling and psychotherapy.
My background in integrative therapy provides a combination of therapeutic approaches which can be utilised within and across sessions. Psychodynamic can help clients understand the impact of early life circumstances on their attachment style, patterns of response and behaviour. Humanistic approaches provide relational insights. The Jungian framework can help to understand the unconscious influences in our lives. Existential/phenomenological approaches may lead to an examination of the fundamental beliefs that underpin the client’s relationships to the world or a search for meaning (Frankl).
The transpersonal acknowledges the soul component of the individual. Whilst this is not the subject of therapy, therapy may open up the client’s access to this most subtle of centres.
MSc Psych, PG Dip Psych, UKCP, MBACP, MNCPS (Acc)
The surface of our lives may appear full of tumult and confusion, but…
just below this is the tranquil ocean of our true being
Our mental and emotional processes tend to dominate the views we hold about ourselves, and these are the principal domains of psychotherapy. Our bodies may also communicate something of our inner state. Alternatively, inner awareness may enable us to be more attentive to what the body is informing us about ourselves. Body and mind work together and attention to either can provide important knowledge about our state of being at any moment.
Psychotherapy can be effective where the physical, mental, and spiritual components of the individual are viewed together as the totality of being.
Psychotherapy helps us to understand ourselves better and to find contentment in our selves and in our lives.
The word ‘psychotherapy’ derives from the Greek ‘psyche’ - soul, and ‘therapia’ - healing. Psychotherapy is today more commonly concerned with factors associated with our thought processes, behaviours, attitudes, and emotions, all of which are involved in our beliefs about ourselves and how we interact with people, situations, and objects.
A client’s introduction to therapy is often prompted by an inner recognition that something does not feel right or does not feel natural to them. It is difficult for most of us to pinpoint the source of our discomfort although we are aware of its impact on our lives. This is where psychotherapy can be helpful. It provides a reflexive space in which one’s whole being can be examined and core issues potentially identified.
Self-awareness is one of the primary benefits to be derived from therapy. It helps us see what is going on within and is a great power that allows us to become compassionate towards ourselves as well as empathetic towards others.
The idea of healing implies that something is not functioning as it should. This may be experienced as emotional pain which we carry around and is present a lot of the time. It seems to prevent us from being happy or it causes us to feel guilty if at some time we find pleasure in something. There are many reasons why the pain or discomfort exists but it provides a message that something is not right and so it can lead people to find ways to understand it. Psychotherapy may offer a way.
Healing is recovering a former state, becoming closer to who we are, to a remembered state before the harm or circumstances upset the balance. Entry into therapy is a big step because it signifies that the client has recognised the need to address something important within themselves, something which they see as an obstacle to natural living. It also indicates a willingness to face their difficulties, and also their commitment to be open to what they discover.
This is not lightly undertaken.
If you are interested in therapy then I would be pleased to meet online for an initial 15 minute discussion of your needs. This will not be chargeable and may lead to a decision on both sides to commence, or conversely not to do so.
A decision to begin therapy will involve agreement on day, time, and location, either in person or online. The fee for a standard 50-minute session is £70 and sessions are weekly.
Unless otherwise agreed, therapy will be open-ended, for as long as you require it, though it may be concluded at any time. Further details of this will be outlined in the therapist/client agreement which forms part of the formal relationship between the parties.
