Fully qualified and UKCP registered Psychotherapist currently working in person and online with both Individuals and Couples
Support for Individuals
There are many reasons why you may want to see me. Some sudden event may have thrown you into crisis and challenged your ability to cope. This might include, a difficulty in a relationship; a loss/bereavement of some kind; or a change that has resulted in stress/anxiety and a feeling of being destabilised. Alternatively you may be suffering from a more general, on-going struggle to see any direction or purpose. A feeling of being disconnected from yourself and others and of there being very little enjoyment in your life.
If this sounds familiar to you, how could psychotherapy help? As a psychotherapist, I hope to be authentic and present. I am not guided by a set of tools but more an awareness of what I feel in the moment. My training is in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, (refer to my "About Psychotherapy" page for a more detailed explanation of what this means). However, in short, this translates to an approach whereby I work with each person as an individual and trust that, with the help of a supportive relationship, everyone has the capacity to find his own way. My belief is that there is real value in having someone who is impartial who can also provide a confidential space for open inquiry and the sharing of feelings. Someone who can simply be there to listen to you when you feel like things are getting too much but will also be there to challenge you and offer a new perspective when you feel ready for further exploration. I hope that I will bring some of my own humanity and vulnerability into the room and that we may work together in a co-creative way to find a way forward. This is what I aim to bring as a therapist in the hope that this will lead to a greater awareness of your own potential and the blocks that get in the way to achieving it.
Specific areas of interest include:
- Depression: low mood/feeling of meaninglessness/existential crisis
- Anxiety
- Sexual issues: impotence, sex addiction, use of porn, fetishes
- Problems in relationships: infidelity, abuse, power dynamics, trust
- Addictions: drink, drugs, porn
- Bereavement/loss
- Identity confusion: sexual orientation, sense of self
- Trauma
- Anger
- Low confidence/self esteem
- Problems in the workplace: confidence, efficiency, relationships at work, feeling stuck, stress
Whereas counselling is often short term and can focus on a specific issue or behavioural pattern, psychotherapy may starts with a specific issue but can then open up into a deeper exploration which enables better understanding by making links between different areas of your life. It is through this process of disentangling and making sense of things that the root of problematic issues can be uncovered and examined. The exploration usually focuses on experiences and relationships early in life. Within the therapeutic relationship it may be easier to view the impact of these relationships and thus provide direction in healing the wounds that have caused difficult behavioural patterns to emerge.
Couples Counselling
Being in a couple relationship is often very challenging. It may be that a sudden event has caused a rift to open up between you both and this has compromised your ability to trust and communicate. Or perhaps there has been a growing distance and there is a desire for one or both of you to reconnect and become more intimate. Perhaps you are wanting different things and it is hard to see a future together. In the process of couples counselling, I will work with you both to find a way forward that honours your individual needs, whilst exploring whether there is a way that you can better connect as a couple. I work intuitively. I aim to create a safe, holding container for the couple to relate in an authentic way and work in the present moment with the dynamic that arises.
Specifically some examples of the issues I work with in counselling couples include:
- Working through infidelity or betrayal;
- Finding passion and connection where sexual preference and appetite feel incompatible,
- Resuscitating relationships that have been left unattended and lack aliveness and compassion;
- Building intimacy where expectations of what a relationship should look like differs;
- Working through daily struggles;
- Improving communication so that conflict may be dealt with more effectively.
I have been working in private practice as a therapist in Henleaze/Westbury on Trym in North Bristol for a number of years.
I hope this website gives you a glimpse into how I work. Feel free to contact me (by phone or e-mail) if you have any questions or if you would like to book a first session. A first session does not commit you but will give us the chance to meet and for you to experience first hand what it is like to work with me as your therapist. Refer to my "How it works and prices" page for more details on my prices and terms by which I work.
