A flexible approach which is responsive
to your specific needs

THE BASICS

In sessions you will experience me listening carefully, supportively and non-judgementally in order to understand things from your perspective. I will reflect back to you what I have observed in terms of what you have communicated, broader patterns that appear to be occurring for you, or aspects of the interaction between us, in order to help you to be able to see things clearly and to be able to begin to make sense of things. Essentially, this is based on a Person-Centred Approach.

EXERCISES, STRATEGIES & SAFETY

You will also experience me offering body relaxation, breathing, safe-place visualisation, mindfulness and being-in-the-present exercises if appropriate to your needs, as well as sharing information about what might be happening in your mind and body if you are experiencing emotional difficulty. These exercises are not required for everyone, and not everyone finds they take to them in the same way (for example some people do not feel calmed by a focus on breathing), however you may find these helpful particularly if experiencing difficulty with such things as persistent anxiety, bodily tension, overwhelming fear and difficulty feeling safe or present in the room if thinking about traumatic incidents.

DEVELOPING SELF-COMPASSION

In addition, you will experience me offering strategies for for helping you to identify self-critical thoughts, shame and the experience of difficult emotions in a self-compassionate way, aiming to develop the tools needed to 'turn the volume down' on bullying, self-critical inner talk which may be causing you difficulty. In this I draw from Dr Paul Gilbert's Compassion-Focussed Therapy which identifies strategies for helping to balance the mind's main emotional systems effectively through a variety of strategies designed to help develop self-compassion and inner calm.

THE THERAPeutic PATh

You will experience no pressure that you sign up for a set number of sessions, with the volume of sessions that you require remaining flexible and open for discussion at any point. You might well find yourself talking about issues that you find uncomfortable, or that stir you up emotionally at certain points; this is a very common experience in therapy, and it is often not a straightforward progression towards wellbeing. It is perhaps more useful to think about it being more like a map in which you visit and re-visit different areas during the course of the sessions. Some of the areas of this map might be extremely difficult to explore, however ultimately it may help you understand the entire territory of yourself meaningfully.