Therapy

I draw on key Cognitive Behavioural (CBT) theories throughout therapy to help us both gain a better understanding of:

What you’re experiencing;
What might be causing or keeping things going (earlier life and here-and-now influences);
What we can do about it!

As I know from personal experience, it can feel impossible tackling our difficulties on our own. When choosing to work with me, you can expect a relaxed and comfortable space (no unnecessary stuffy formalities here) and together we'll collaborate on what strategies we can work on to start seeing some positive changes.

You can always expect genuine empathy (as I have my own lived experiences), realistic and no-nonsense advice (I'll never encourage you to do anything unachievable or I wouldn't do myself) and transparency (I'll explain rationales behind suggestions, highlight common obstacles and work together to make tweaks if anything isn't sitting comfortably).

I'm confident and experienced in working with a wide range of issues. CBT is undoubtably the most evidence-based therapy at present and is known to be particularly effective in treating Anxiety Disorders such as PTSD, OCD, Health Anxiety, Generalised Anxiety Disorder (excessive worry), Panic Disorder, Phobias and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

It can also be a great approach for working on Depression (whether relatively recent, long-standing, recurrent or 'reactive' ie closely linked to certain life events/changes) and Low Self-Esteem.

I have some additional training in other approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Mindfulness. I like to weave these into therapy when a slightly different approach seems helpful!

Areas of Expertise for Therapy

PTSD

An incredibly wide range of experiences can leave us with PTSD. Rather than rattling off a list, I think it's more helpful to say any situation (whether directly or indirectly experienced, whether one-off or experienced over a longer period of time) which sparked off an intense negative emotion can result in trauma memories being formed.

Trauma-Focused therapy involves memory processing work, which I now specialise in and which has incredible impacts, transforming our day-to-day wellbeing.

A lack of confidence can have far-reaching impacts on so many aspects of our day-to-day lives. It may have started fairly recently, due to major challenges or stresses arising, or it could be far more long-standing, something we feel like we’ve always experienced since we were little.

However long the chronicity and whatever the root cause, we don't have to feel like this forever. Therapy can develop a healthier, more positive and crucially more accurate sense of self.

Low Self-Esteem

OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is far more than the classic public perception of cleanliness. Anything we feel compelled to do because otherwise something bad may happen or we’ll be left feeling incredibly anxious and uncomfortable could be seen as OCD-type difficulties.

There are some truly life-changing therapeutic techniques we can work on together and I’ve been refining these over the years, drawing on a number of approaches, purely based on my clients’ experiences and feedback.