How might Therapy help me?
People seek therapy for many reasons. It can help you deal with difficult life events, improve medical conditions and help improve physical symptoms. It can also help alleviate stress-related problems.
I can provide a safe and confidential space for you to talk through your thoughts, feelings and behaviours to develop a better understanding of yourself and others.
Therapists should not give you their opinions or advice or prescribe medication but assist you to help find your own solutions – whether that’s making effective changes in your life or exploring ways to cope with your problems. Therapists will remain impartial but understanding, listening without judgment.
Most therapy takes place in planned, regular sessions lasting around 50 minutes. How often you see your therapist will depend on your individual circumstances and will be decided between yourselves.
You might meet face to face, online or over the telephone, however you feel most comfortable.
During a session, your therapist may take you through exercises tailored to help with your problem, or you might have more general discussions about how you’re feeling. What you talk about will vary depending on what you require support with, and the therapist’s approach, but might include relationships, childhood issues, feelings, emotions, behaviours, past and present life events, other situations you find difficult.
Working as an integrative therapist I look at the whole person, taking into account your mental, physical and emotional needs to build a non-judgmental relationship that helps you develop self-awareness. I use techniques and tools from different modalities to tailor an individual approach for you. When you understand the causes of your concerns or triggers for your behaviour, you can confidently set goals and develop new behaviours to improve your satisfaction with life.
Some of the therapies I use are:
Person Centered Therapy (PCT)
Person or centred therapy is based on the view that everyone has the capacity and desire for personal growth and change, given the right conditions. Rather than being seen as the expert and directing the therapy, the counsellor offers unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence to help you come to terms with any negative feeling and to change and develop in your own way.
Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)
CFT helps those struggling with shame and self criticism, often as a result of early experience of abuse or neglect which can be the driving forces behind other mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, disordered eating, self-harm. CFT teaches you to cultivate skills in compassion and self-compassion, both to yourself and towards others, using minffulness, appreciation and imagery exercises, to help regulate mood and lead to feelings of safety, self acceptance, and comfort
Life Coaching
Coaching supports individuals, teams or groups in achieving greater self-awaremenss, improved self-management skills and increased self-efficacy, so that you can develop your own goals and solutions. It is a collaborative, conversation-based process, which emphasizes and builds on your existing and developing strengths. It is often focused on supporting you in making changes, either to how things are at present or to your near and distant future. Sessions may be quite structured and directional or interative, and can last up to two hours. Coaching may follow a specific model, but many coaches integrate more that one model, along with elements of therapeutic approaches such as person-centred, solution focused or CBT.
Expressive Therapies
Creating therapies allow sharing and processing of feelings and memories that may be hard to put into words. Offering techniques, including sand tray, minautures, art and journal writing, particularly helpful for clients struggling to verbalise their thoughts and feelings.
Outdoor Therapy
Outdoor Therapy is exactly as it sounds. It is traditional therapy session that takes place between the therapist and client as they walk and talk outdoors. walking is known to be calming as well as the stimulus to new thoughts and ideas.
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness
This menthod utilizes mindfulness techniques that are safe, effective and helpful in recognizing and supporting trauma recovery to prevent re-traumatization.
