Services

During long-term relationships people face many important decisions, life events and turning points. When couples take different approaches it can become difficult to talk and support each other, leaving each partner possibly feeling lonely, isolated, angry, rejected, unsafe and unsupported.

Having therapy as a couple in a safe, mediated space offers the opportunity to air thoughts and feelings and to hear each other. It can be a way of opening up communication to gain a better understanding of the underlying issues.

Sometimes men are afraid that if they come to couple therapy with a female counsellor they will be blamed. I take a relational perspective – which in everyday language means that I recognize ‘there are two sides to every story’.

EFT

In my couple work I integrate Emotionally Focussed Therapy (EFT) which is one of the most empirically validated approaches in the field, and has a solid body of research showing positive outcomes for couples. EFT recognises that relationship distress arises from a perceived threat to basic adult needs for safety, security and closeness in intimate relationships and offers a process for healing distressed relationships.

Together we will identify unhelpful patterns that have developed in your relationship and work to rebuild intimacy and support for you both.

Problems with anxiety can be mild, moderate or severe.
Most of us experience anxiety at some time in our lives. We often feel worried or fearful before exams, when starting a new job or going into hospital and unexpected changes such as illness or even happy events such as a new birth can trigger feelings of anxiety. These feelings are considered a normal response to stress and after the event, the anxiety generally disappears.
When anxiety causes distress over a longer period of time and affects how we live our lives it becomes more debilitating.

Counselling for Anxiety

The most common approach used in counselling anxiety is CBT .There are many ways we can work to overcome severe anxiety which may include physically managing the panic when it happens as well as exploring what triggers and maintains it.
Sometimes anxiety is caused by applying rules from our past about how we ‘should’ behave. Therapy can help uncover and explore these, enabling us to better support ourselves and develop our own more helpful rules and behaviour.

For more information take a look at Mind’s booklet on anxiety.

Loss is part of the cycle of life and bereavement / grief a common reason for people to seek therapy.
When we experience the loss of a loved one or something we care about, it’s not unusual to feel that a part of us has died. Grief can feel like a heavy, unyielding burden which will never lift.

What is Grief?

Grief is the term we use to describe the feelings and reactions we have when we lose someone or something that we care about. It affects us all . It is painful and stressful and also natural, and necessary.
Endings are inevitable and when someone close dies, they leave a hole in our world to which we have to find a way of adjusting .Our world is totally changed and we may have to let go of shared hopes, we may have regrets about things we haven’t said, opportunities we didn’t take.
We each grieve in our own unique way and the process can take months or years.
Counselling can support you to come to terms with your loss and help you begin to heal and live your life fully again.

Depression is common – one in five people become depressed at some point in their lives.
Most of us experience periods of low mood from time to time and sadness is a natural reaction to experiences which are upsetting, painful and difficult. These feelings will usually pass .
Depression is an illness with prolonged periods of intense persistent sadness often accompanied by physical symptoms such as tiredness, changes in our appetite, disturbed sleep patterns, feeling of hopelessness or anxiety and panic attacks which affect daily functioning and make living our lives a real struggle.

There is no single cause of depression. It can result from a physical illness , prolonged periods of stress and the resulting overproduction of cortisol, or other hormonal changes such as childbirth or the menopause. It can also be triggered by life events such as a bereavement , a relationship breakdown or other trauma.
Whatever the cause, it can feel like we are trapped in a dark place of our own making.
Counselling can help you to understand your depression and learn to manage the habits and issues that contribute to it. If you feel that depression is interfering with the quality of your life do get in touch to make an initial appointment.

Self- confidence is a term used to describe a sense of being OK with one self and generally suggests a positive sense of worth.
While everyone struggles with confidence at times, some people seem generally more confident than others. Self- confidence is often linked to self- esteem.

People with a healthy sense of self -esteem generally do not feel inferior or superior to others they tend to live by a set of values and principals in which they feel secure, often trust their own judgement and do not feel threatened by people having different views. They often trust in their capacity to face difficulties and overcome obstacles.
When our self- esteem is low we may feel that we are not achieving in life what we would like to and that somehow we ‘can’t’ do things for whatever reason. This can affect the quality of our lives. Perhaps we think we are ‘not good enough’ or maybe we feel inadequate in certain situations , we may rely heavily on the approval of others, avoid taking risks for fear of failure, have difficulty accepting compliments and discount our achievements through focusing on anything we didn’t do perfectly.
Counselling can help boost your self -esteem and challenge any limiting beliefs, it can help improve relationships and the way in which you view and treat yourself.
By learning to feel ‘more equal’ we can begin to notice and value what we do achieve and, through acknowledging these achievements, develop the confidence to achieve more.