My approach integrates various approaches and theoretical models to offer a tailored response to you and the issues that you bring.  It may be that you prefer the exploratory nature of our process (our conversation and our being together) to allow insights to emerge, especially if you are not quite sure what is troubling you. In other more specific cases such as addiction, co-dependence and other compulsive behaviours, a more proactive approach including goal-setting and mapping out a treatment plan could work better.  These approaches can be combined or shift from one focus to the other as our work evolves.  In all cases, I’m generally not passive and take an active interest in your story and how you tell it and work with you to identify what might need to be changed and how you might go about making those effective changes.

Some of the things that you might wish to work on could include anxiety, social phobias, depression, and other mental health concerns, loss and bereavement, seeking, being in or the ending of a close relationship, drug and alcohol problems and the legacy of a painful or unhappy childhood.

What is important is that the work is paced so that you feel comfortable and aren’t overwhelmed by the emerging nature of your own material and the trauma that may have previously been hidden.  The task of keeping the work safe is one that we undertake together.  Difficult life events can become unconscious and surface in a disruptive way that can be hard to make sense of. Making sense of our life events (whether current or historical) and finding a way of managing the effects on our present-day life can be a step into a new perspective that offers more space, clearer choices, the creation of new opportunities and finding a new way of being.

Counselling can be short or long-term depending on the work in hand and what you want to achieve.  Regular reviews of progress mean that the work remains relevant, in tune with your needs and manageable, both emotionally and financially. Counselling is an investment in your own life and over time can be costly.  In our reviews, we will consider what’s been achieved and what remains to be done and what you would like to do next for the best within your means.