Counselling Approach
I work in an integrated way that is mostly humanistic, particularly existential and person-centred, but these are secondary to understanding you as an individual within your specific context. So the way I work is in a broader sense holistic. This involves understanding the many aspects of you as a person, rather than focussing on particular problems alone. I consider as much of your life and situation that you wish to share, and at a pace that feels comfortable. Together we can explore the difficulties you face and what impact they are having on your wellbeing and mental health. A different perspective can facilitate transformations.
Sometimes talking with someone who will be fully present and listen empathically is enough to create some space and time to rethink old patterns or habits and recalibrate things.
I mostly work long term with clients who want to work at depth and explore the meaning of life. This may be about feeling lost or uncertain, depression, anxiety, loss, the need for a spiritual exploration of what really matters in life, understanding your relationship to new circumstances such as a diagnosis of dyslexia, ADHD or autism. Maybe you are unravelling identity; whether that is to do with gender, sexuality, body fragility, illness, race, class, or loss and grief. Perhaps you are struggling with a number of different challenges.
Harm/Injury/Anguish/Disturbance/Despair
How the harm and injury we experience is treated is becoming more consolidated around understanding the connections between early development, ongoing experiences, regulation of emotions and behaviours and the role of the nervous system and the ways in which the these events in life impact our well-being. Often problems develop because of the difficulty of integrating negative experiences and feeling unable to regulate emotions that seem to hijack the body. I use many different approaches that can involve, for instance, parts work from Internal Family Systems theory, imaginal dialogue and creative memory work to name a few, but the aim is to support integration and regulation of the nervous system. What this means practically is that difficult emotions can be accepted more within the self in a balanced way and how we get there will be determined by your particular needs and unique story.
Gender and Identity
I have many years experience working and studying the complex field of Gender. My therapeutic approach draws on various philosophical traditions including feminism, intersectionality, existentialism, queer and neuroqueer theory as well as an understanding of a variety of belief systems. I work with many transgender, non-binary and a-gender people, but also with people who struggle against the various forms of gender policing that prevent us all being our authentic selves. Identity, like gender, is a very complex phenomenon that differs or changes over a lifespan, with age, life experience and heritage and many other factors. I aim to honour all the complexities that you may bring in searching for who you are.
Spiritual work and Self-care/Self-resourcing.
My understanding of spiritual work is basically a deeper understanding of and connection to self within the universe or wider world. Underpinning this is a radical kind of self-care that is culturally discouraged in our work, money and productivity obsessed society. But to be able to support wellness in an authentic way requires a deep commitment to being in communication with body and mind and soul in order to address the many stresses and toxicities we absorb in life and their impact on us. If life seems to be a constant struggle, this can be almost impossible to maintain. I can offer support to help you with this in any way that makes sense to you and it is a common theme in all the work I do as a practitioner.
