Individual therapy

What is therapy?

Therapeutic counselling and psychotherapy are talking processes that allow time and space for individuals to connect with themselves and their problems.

Very often it can be the first time that a person has been able to truly listen to themselves in the sea of voices of others in their lives that shout for attention. It can be something of a revelation. I know it was for me on my own personal counselling journey.

If you lack of confidence, have anxious thoughts, lack of energy or motivation, low mood or other people's agendas are holding you away from being able to live your true life, then having a safe space to talk it through can be transformational.

I work holistically, using different training and techniques to support my clients to explore their lives, past and present, their relationships, their family backgrounds and aspirations for their lives going into the future. I offer a calm space and use creative and relaxation techniques as well as verbal exploration to help you consider lifestyles, choices and changes you might like to make.

I work in a process of guided discovery, not having the answers but listening alongside you so that in your own pace and process, you can find your own answers. I invite you to bring whatever is on your mind into the sessions and we will consider it together, without judgement.

Therapy can be challenging and oftentimes, it can feel worse before it feels better as this is honest and reflective work. But in trusting the process and being open to try things and stick with it, slowly in this space of safety, change can happen.

In the first session, we can consider how we can work together and begin to explore what areas you would like support with. You may wish to work in a very structured way or you may be open to the possibilities of what comes up for you, week by week. However you choose to work, we can do so at your own pace.

Below I outline some of the areas where I have helped people in therapy...

What can therapy help with?

Personal journeys

We are all on personal journeys to learn about ourselves and our lives. The trouble is often we only have the wisdom of insight afterwards. Therapy can increase your awareness of what is going on around you and offer you the tools to make changes in the present. It can help you to reconsider where you are, reflect on the positive and reappraise the negative. If you are anxious, you can learn strategies to help reduce this. Plus support you to develop ways to become more assertive. If you are disconnected emotionally, it can help you to feel your feelings and respond to them in healthy ways.

Growing pains

Children and young people have a lot of challenges these days. Rapidly changing technology with its social and visual demands for attention as well as the growing pains of changing bodies, moods, relationships alongside climate change, wars and uncertainty. All can have an impact on mental health and different ways of coping might include self-harm, drugs or suicidal thoughts. Children and young people often have a greater receptivity to counselling than adults - whether through play, creative work or talking therapy. Change can happen as a result. Whatever you or your child brings, we can explore it.

Relationship struggles

Both individuals and couples can benefit from the process of counselling to explore relationships. It is an opportunity to hear yourself and your partner, to focus on how you relate to each other and examine areas of stuckness and negative patterns. It can help you to improve communications, explore challenges together in a calm and focused way and build new ways to be in the relationship. Big changes like having children or losing a loved one can be explored. Or, if you are wanting to end a relationship, it can help you to do this together.

Work problems

Whether you are working, moving towards work or planning a career, education or work break or have had a work break thrust on you through unemployment or redundancy, working life is complex and full of changes. In this 21st century world, the speed and demands on our time have grown but the routines of working, travelling, caring and domestic life are still there. Counselling can help you find perspective on all this, explore tricky work problems or relationships, help you with a change in direction or a better balance between life and work.

Patterns from the past

Your childhood and the ways your carers built a relationship with you and the challenges of that past life all link to how you are today. Taking time to unpick this can help you in the present. You will become more aware of how others' ways of relating do not have to be how you have to be. Your new awareness will open up a greater field of vision for you - to see the past and to see the present with a wider and deeper perspective. That empowers you to makes the changes you want to make.

Family matters

We are social creatures and mostly live or are connected to family. But that does not mean we always get on. Being able to consider your family connections, past and present and the ways people relate to each other can help you to communicate differently. Also, to understand and accept how and why others are like they are - by standing in their shoes. Therapy could also help you to set better boundaries, speak up for your needs and negotiate shared work and caring responsibilities.

Loss and change

Change and endings happen throughout life. The fast pace of moving forwards means ourselves and others expect us to get over loss and get on with life when we might not be ready to. Whether you have lost a parent, a partner, a child, moved home or country, lost contact with friends or lost your identity through new roles or decreased abilities, counselling can provide time and space to be heard, to feel and to acknowledge those changes and to grow around them.

What else I can help with…

Abuse, Anxiety, Addictions, Anger, Attachment issues, Autism, Behavioural issues, Cancer, Depression, Disability, Eating disorders, Health issues, Identity issues, Infertility, LGBTQ+, Men’s issues, Obsessions, Phobias, Pregnancy, Redundancy, Self-harm, Sexual behaviour, Sexual identity, Spirituality, Stress....

…or call me to discuss any other issue.