As an integrative counsellor I use various therapeutic approaches and specifically tailor our sessions to your unique needs. Whatever challenges you face day-to-day, my aim is to help you create lasting change. At the core of our sessions is a person-centred approach where the client and the therapist work collaboratively. Person-centred therapy is a type of non-directive therapy that is empathetically driven to offer you a safe and non-judgemental space to talk where you can self-actualise and make positive changes in your life.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
Lao Tzu
Person-Centred Therapy
Person-centred therapy emphasises your subjective experience and your innate capacity for self-awareness and personal growth. Person-centred therapy is rooted in the belief that the individual has all the answers from within to thrive – and I help empower you to find the answers. Person-centred therapy helps facilitate your self-actualisation, allowing you to develop solutions to your problems and reach your full potential. You actively take control during each therapy session, while I act as a source of support where you feel heard and understood. You focus on maximising your ability to find solutions during the therapeutic process, which encourages positive change within yourself. The focus is on the present rather than the past and is an effective tool for managing difficult situations such as trauma-related events. The goals of this practice include increasing self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-acceptance, leading to improved emotional resilience and more meaningful relationships with others.
Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy is a type of humanistic and person-centred therapy that focuses on the immediate here and now and how that can be explored to help you. It looks at how your past affects and influences how you’re feeling in this moment rather than how you felt back then. Its focus is to raise your immediate awareness of how you are, while giving you flexibility to experiment with different ways of responding. Gestalt is based on the principle that everyone is a whole – made up of mind, body and soul – and draws on the philosophical idea that the whole is other than the sum of its parts. It emphasises that to fully understand people you have to look at their current situation as they experience it, leading to resolution and self-awareness.
Attachment Theory
Attachment theory focuses on relationships and bonds (particularly long-term) between people, including those between a parent and child and between romantic partners. It is a psychological explanation for the emotional bonds and relationships between people. It is hoped that with new knowledge we foster greater awareness of ourselves and those around us. This helps us to understand ourselves better and the way we interact with our partners, parents, our own children and friends. It can help us to fit the missing jigsaw pieces together to see how what we have grown up to believe about ourselves in the world has, in effect, contributed to how we actually are in the world, and how the world is with us.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT aims to help you find new ways to behave by changing your thought patterns. CBT teaches you how to improve your negative patterns by changing how you think, behave, and feel. CBT uses many techniques to identify and evaluate unhelpful thinking. It enables you to deal with overwhelming problems more positively by breaking them down into smaller parts. The focus of CBT is primarily on moving forward to develop more effective ways of coping with life. It is a goals-orientated therapy and very effective for a variety of issues - it works on the concept that our thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are all interconnected. Sessions focus on exploring and developing methods to deal with challenges and behaviours that arise day-to-day.
Transactional Analysis (TA)
Transactional analysis is a widely recognised form of modern psychology and is designed to promote personal growth and change. It is considered a fundamental therapy for well-being and for helping individuals to reach their full potential in all aspects of life. TA focuses directly on problem-solving behaviours, whilst helping you to develop day-to-day tools for finding constructive, creative solutions. The ultimate goal is to ensure you regain absolute autonomy over your life. I work collaboratively with you and together, we identify what isn’t working and provide opportunities for you to change and reach your potential.