About Therapy

Broadly, there are two main categories of clients who seek psychotherapy - those who are finding life difficult due to a general sense of unease from a myriad of complex issues, both past and present; and those who have faced a particular crisis that they need help to process in order to move on.

For those facing a general sense of discomfort and discontent, my aim is to help you to overcome these negative feelings and to live a better, healthier, happier life. We are all creatures of habit and follow patterns in the way we think, feel, relate to others and behave. These 'templates' may have been established a long time ago as a way to cope but over time they can become disruptive. You may feel trapped in a vicious circle and not know what to do to change things. My role is to help you to recognise these disruptive patterns and to explore their nature and origin. Through this process, a new approach can emerge and you can break the cycle and achieve real, positive change.

For clients facing a personal tragedy, such as bereavement or divorce, my aim to is to offer a safe place where you can reflect. Perhaps you feel that you are stuck, that the pain isn't getting any easier to bear over time. Maybe you feel that you are burdening your friends and family or that they are too involved to be able to support you at this time. If this is the case, I aim to help you to cope with the difficult feelings that arise in response to profound life events. All of life's tragedies involve loss of one kind or another - loss of a loved one, of hopes and dreams for the future, we can lose our sense of who we are or the beliefs that underpin that. It is my role to help you to process your loss, to recognise and understand the impact this has had on you and to begin to accept what has happened in order to enter a new phase of life.

I am an integrative therapist, which means that I use various techniques when working with clients but my main orientation is psychodynamic - helping clients to explore the past so that they can gain a better understanding of their current disruptive thoughts, feelings and behaviours. My work is also influenced by a broad knowledge of philosophy which is used to help clients to make sense of their past, plan for their future and explore the meaning, value and purpose of their lives.

For a description and summary of the different types of psychotherapy visit NHS Choices: www.nhs.uk/conditions/psychotherapy