About therapy
Counselling gives you room to breathe, space to think, and a chance to explore your options for how things could be different.
Perhaps low mood or worry feels overwhelming. Maybe you keep finding yourself having the same problems in relationships. You might want to make a change, but don’t know where to start.
In therapy, you don't have to hide or apologise for your feelings. Whatever is on your mind - the future, the past, family, love, purpose, life, death - nothing is off the table.
There could be all kinds of reasons you’re here.
Whether you’re looking for direction, looking for calm, looking for closure, or looking for answers - these are all good reasons to go to therapy.
It’s a powerful thing to be in a room where the whole of you, and all your feelings, is welcomed. Yes, in therapy you might cry - but you’ll laugh too. Your sadness, joy, anger, hopelessness, worry, curiosity, shame, humour, and strength are all allowed.
While fictional therapists in films or TV series often appear unsmiling or remote, you’ll be pleased to know that’s not me. When we work together, I’ll listen attentively, question gently, and offer new ways to explore your ideas and feelings.
Therapy can also be portrayed in a slightly mystical way, but if there is any ‘magic’ to it, it’s not in a therapist who has all the answers (run a mile from anyone who says they do). It’s in the process of discovering that it’s possible for things to be different for you, and that there are choices available that you may not have realised.
Counselling gives us new choices.
Although I draw on a number of different approaches to suit each person I work with, my core training is in Transactional Analysis (TA).
TA helps us to explore the way that our life experiences shape the decisions we make (including the limitations we put on ourselves). Often, we’re not aware of these decisions - it’s what we’ve grown up with, so it’s just what we’re used to.
Counselling can help us to notice the way these decisions have shaped our lives, and give us the opportunity to make different choices.
When we work together, I'll regularly check in with you to make sure that the way we’re working is helpful. If you ever have a feeling of something ‘missing the mark’, I will always (always) welcome you telling me. Giving your therapist honest, in-the-moment feedback is a little-known but very empowering and helpful part of therapy.
I know first-hand how powerful and life-changing therapy can be, as I’ve spent plenty of time in the ‘client chair’ myself over the years.