I offer and short- and long-term psychotherapy and counselling for individuals, both indoors and outdoors (see below for more on my outdoor work).
When life is challenging, we can feel scattered or lost, stuck in a rut, or in pain. I’m passionate about working with people to help them understand themselves more deeply, and find more easeful, or fulfilling ways to live their lives. Reconnecting to parts of ourselves we’ve lost touch with or had to hide can be transformative; building healthy connections with others and with the world around us is, I believe, more important than ever in the uncertain and challenging times we live in.
I have particular experience working with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, identity and relationship issues, and the ongoing effects of adverse childhood experiences, including self-harm, addiction and suicidal thoughts. But whether you are struggling with something in particular, or have a sense of something not being right that you can’t put your finger on, I offer my presence and experience alongside you in exploration, and to work with you to bring about change.
I welcome people of all identities, cultures, sexualities and faiths.
I am a member of the UKCP and abide by their ethical code.
My approach:
Rather than focus on techniques, I work with you to find the best way for you to explore whatever is troubling you.
I’ll pay attention to what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, and what you might be communicating in ways other than words. I work relationally – a way of paying attention to repeating, often troubling patterns we hold onto from our early life. So I’ll ask about your life today and in the past, particularly perhaps your childhood, and together we’ll start to make sense of things. We’ll talk, but also make space to notice what might be happening in your mind and body. We’ll work with whatever feelings, thoughts, and beliefs arise so you can begin to live differently.
Coming to therapy can feel like a big step. It can be a complex and challenging process, and I’m always up for discussing how it’s going, and how we’re working together.
Outdoor therapy:
I offer outdoor therapy as an alternative to my indoor practice.
For some people, therapy in an outside space can open things up in a different way from talking face-to-face in a room. I also believe passionately in the benefits of paying attention to the natural world – it has a lot to offer us!
My approach is grounded in ecotherapy – a way of working that invites reflection on our experience of the environment we are in, moment to moment, as well as exploring what might be happening inside us, or between therapist and client, as we might in a more ‘traditional’ setting.
My outdoor work takes place in a woodland area local to me, in which during a session we might walk and talk, but also allow space for pauses and quiet reflection, sitting or standing: how we spend the time is something we can shape together, in contact with what might arise as we go, and with what feels right to you.
I have found that this process can enliven and deepen our understanding of ourselves, of how we connect to others (including but not exclusively people!), and of our relationship with the world we are moving through. It can feel grounding and vitalising to spend time tending to any or all of these relationships.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the where/how/when etc, please feel free to contact me via email.
