How I Work
I work in a holistic way using both talk therapy and body based (somatic) therapy. With my support and in a safe non-judgmental environment, therapy is a time for you to explore your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, identity, patterns of behaviours and your goals. To find what works for you and change what doesn’t, to develop tools and strategies so you feel better and live more creatively with meaning and purpose.
Therapy can help you find hope again
Somatic Therapy
When you feel overwhelmed or anxious your body is in autonomic fight or flight mode. When you become too overwhelmed you may go into shut down. I use somatic therapies to help you calm down out of survival mode, so your rational thinking brain comes back online, and you can manage stress better, this helps you with your ability to think clearly and solve problems. This means you can go from automatically reacting to taking a moment and choosing how to respond instead.
How you respond to chronic stress in your life depends on how regulated your nervous system is. Ongoing abuse, shocks, losses and hardships means that through no fault of your own that your nervous system is more likely to be dysregulated and this stored survival stress limits your response to challenges in life.
Somatic therapies which include EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) can help you build emotional capacity, shift limiting beliefs, and process and reduce distressing feelings and traumatic memories that are held in your body. By tuning into your body and feeling your feelings, you can understand and process these emotions better. Sometimes, emotions can be too much, so I work using somatic therapies in a safe and gentle way so that you feel safe and supported at all times. You cannot heal unless you feel seen and safe in therapy sessions.
Talk Therapy
In therapy I use mainly CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) but I draw on other therapies as well. Talk therapy deals with how you think, feel and act and how these interact to trap you in negative cycles. These unhelpful thoughts can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, fear, procrastination, people pleasing, shame and guilt. You may have developed certain patterns over time that you do not question. These patterns may stem from your childhood environment, but you don’t have to become a victim of these cycles.
Awareness is a key component of breaking free and finding new ways to respond to events. Once identified these unhelpful patterns can be challenged and replaced over time or they can come to have less power over you. We can also look at different perspectives and solutions to a problem and see what fits best. Through talk therapy we can identify your emotional needs and ways that these can be met. You will be in a safe place to explore your feelings and triggers and be able to process emotions in a healthy way. We can identify your strengths, and you can develop better coping strategies to manage challenges, be able to set boundaries, find your purpose and start to reclaim your life back.
Next steps:
Are you an older woman who is living in a state of chronic stress and feels stuck? Are you grieving a loss and finding life difficult? Do you feel unimportant and invisible? Through personalised online counselling sessions, I support you with your needs and goals and help you feel better. Your journey to a more fulfilling life starts here.