Whatever your reasons for considering counselling, I imagine you’re experiencing some distress, suffering, or simply frustration at feeling stuck. People also come to counselling because they have a sense that something is missing from an otherwise good life; that they’re not able to find pleasure, joy, satisfaction when there is no real good reason for this. I appreciate that it can feel challenging to take the first step, but please know that I welcome you making contact.

It is very understandable and natural to want a life that’s more satisfying, fulfilling, and pleasurable; where you’re growing and moving in a healthy direction; that has a sense of meaning and purpose; and is at least manageable. Seeking counselling to help you achieve some of this is wise, especially in these particularly challenging times.

I work with people who reach out for counselling for similar and for varied reasons, each individual unique with their own inner worlds and external contexts. Some want help to manage transitions from one life stage to another, such as approaching retirement, facing changes in parenting roles, relationship challenges and changes, work and lifestyle changes; for help with recovering from trauma be that developmental childhood trauma issues, or a single traumatic incident or situation, including for example an abusive relationship or a betrayal, an accident, or a sudden loss; for help with distressing states such as anxiety, frustration, confusion and hopelessness brought on by a wealth of reasons; for help with grief, recent or historic. 

My counselling is helpful if you are experiencing an emotional, existential or practical problem that you cannot resolve on your own. I am independent from your situations and relationships, and bring my professional insight, understanding, and teaching, to support you to find and live your own solutions. I draw on my training, experience, and knowledge, including of evidence-based practices such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), to effectively blend interventions to meet your needs, moment to moment, session by session.

Our sessions are where you can learn about who you are, how you came to be who you are, what your dreams and desires are, what internal blocks and circumstantial realities get in the way of you accepting and expressing your strengths, gifts and talents, of becoming more of who you are and want to be; it’s a place to learn, to experiment with new ways, and to practise new behaviours and choices.

I help you to gain more understanding of your feelings and thoughts, your internal defences, and external blocking factors, to make new choices that serve you better. I support you to talk through what is going on for you, confidentially. Self-knowledge and self-acceptance are fundamentally important to a greater sense of self, increased confidence, and capacity to live well.