FAQ

How I work 

Working online through a secure web platform (such as Zoom, Teams, Skype etc)  when I first meet you as a client, my aim is to help you find ways to settle a little into being with me. I provide a welcoming online space where you can begin to focus on your therapeutic needs with me - as much you feel ready to. My aim is that a trusting relationship can develop between us. I know this can take time.

From a secure base of our sessions, we can begin to explore what brings you to therapy, what you are struggling with, and your hopes for the life you want to live. I believe it is also important to explore what you are interested in, good at, what you enjoy, your resources, what brings you alive.

where are you now?
courageous journeys explore
unexpected paths

I tune into your experience - mind, body, emotions, beliefs. I value your individuality and diversity, and the importance of understanding the relationships and contexts in which you find yourself. I am interested in what has happened in your life, how you experience it, the impact of the past on your life, your relationships with others and with yourself, and what you make of it. We can also focus together on what occurs in our sessions to understand what’s going on for you now within you and between us. This allows new elements of your awareness to emerge.

Understand Different Parts of Your Experience

Do you ever find yourself asking the question ‘Why did I do that?’  Or, ‘Why does one part of me want one thing, then another part does the opposite?’

I recognise that we all have different parts of ourselves as human beings, different aspects of who we are, different roles we adopt. Sometimes we are aware of different aspects of who we are and sometimes not. Sometimes it is hard to accept or even tolerate parts of ourselves that we want to get rid of or disown.

With compassion, I encourage you to become curious about which parts of your experience, which emotions, might be blocking you. I hold the belief that you are the expert in your own life, and that you have within you what you need. My role is to help you discover and access your own understandings.

Some questions you might like to consider...

• What do I need to understand, accept or change in my life?
• With what part or parts of me and my experience would I like a better relationship?
• What am I hoping for from therapy?

It may be that your current difficulties are affected by past sufferings. Your early life experiences, attachments and touchstone memories might continue to influence your internal relationships and perceptions of parts of yourself and others in the present. These may be influencing your hopes and or fears for your future. 
I understand mental health diagnoses, of course, and I also recognise that people need more than a diagnosis to fully understand the different aspects of their experience in order to overcome their struggles. I work with you as person, and together we can discuss and plan how I can best help you.

Beyond Words

I understand that sometimes there are no words. Sometimes words are not enough. I understand that sometimes what is needed is not talking. Attentive silence, perhaps. Sometimes, approaches that move beyond words can help you find your own ways of sharing what you need to express. Allowing yourself to be creative in other ways may be helpful, for instance through artwork, play, sound, drumming, moving etc.

Sometimes words have a very clear meaning. Yes is yes. And no is no. However, words and their meanings are more often than not, subjective, and open to interpretation. The meanings we give words are  filtered through our experience of culture, education and experience. And, more often than not, the same word can have a different meaning for different people. I always remain curious as to how creative processes may offer new meanings that are vital and meaningful for you.

Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”  — Viktor Frankl

Always with empathy, and without judgement, I support your process of making space to connect with all parts of yourself. As you do this, it becomes easier to accept your own complexity and your power to choose,  in ways that are right for you.

You choose your way.

Mind-Body-Presence

We are our bodies, and yet so often, we  ignore our bodies, as we overly depend on our thinking and thoughts to solve our problems. Especially where there is trauma, “the body keeps the score”  (van der Kolk). When we are stressed or anxious, or we are feeling something difficult, one of the first things that happens is we constrict our breath in ways that can affect our well being. Our breath becomes shallow or tight, which results in less oxygen circulating to our brain, and so our body-mind system must work overtime with less resources to support them.

I support my clients to develop ways of breathing that support and facilitate well-being, with visualisation processes that help to quieten the mind. In this way it is easier to discover the support and insight that the body and imagination can give us when we listen to them.

I aim to provide a welcoming environment that feels safe-enough for you to begin to explore aspects of your specific therapeutic needs with me to the extent that you feel ready. I believe the development of relationship between you as my client and I is an essential element in your therapeutic journey.

When we can experience a safe relationship in therapy with the space to explore, name and feel our feelings and responses, our entire experience of ourselves and our world can begin to shift. Barriers to connection with ourselves and others can begin to dissolve, we can learn how to better deal with stress, and no longer need to wall off burdened parts of ourselves from present day living. From here we can harness necessary resources that will support you on your path of self-discovery/recovery.  

From a secure base of regular sessions, we can begin to explore what brings you to therapy and your hopes for the life you want to live. With compassion, we can become curious about which parts of your experience might prevent you from fulfilling your dreams. We can address your life dilemmas and contradictions.

We can focus on how your early life experiences, attachments and touchstone memories might continue to influence your internal relationships and perceptions of parts of yourself and others. How might your present difficulties be affected by past sufferings?

With empathy, I aim to support your process of exploration as you discover insightful connections with all parts of yourself. With this increasing acceptance of your own complexity, it becomes easier to experience greater fulfilment in ways that are right for you.

The journey of therapy can help all parts of you to settle into who you are with increasing confidence, trust and insight in the present. It becomes easier to let the past be the past, freeing you to have hope for the future.

There are different ways to undertake this journey.

If you are interested to discover more about understanding parts of yourself read more  (LINK to

….if you would like to know more and discuss how I can help (Please contact me) LINK to contact page

Consultation

For practitioners who have their own regular supervision provision but need some focused additional supervision/support for particular cases, I offer one-off or periodic consultation sessions.

For example, my areas of expertise as a supervisor include supporting practitioners who are working with:

• Adult survivors of childhood abuse/adverse childhood experiences
• Complex dissociative distress
• Diagnosed dissociative disorders
• Addiction Recovery
• Eating Distress/Disorders
• Attachment, Co-Dependency and Abandonment Issues
• Adult survivors in 12 Step Recovery and Psychotherapy/Counselling who are struggling with conflicts between the 12 Step Programme v Therapy

Please contact me for a discussion about how I might support your work.