Some people struggle with the idea of seeking help from a professional, thinking that they should be able to manage by themselves.  However, it is very difficult to get perspective about something that is going on inside our own minds.  The viewpoint of a specialist in this area is an important ‘sounding board’. I focus on creating a safe, authentic, reflective space to promote healing and growth.

As a psychologist I am aware that it isn’t easy to free ourselves from negative ideas about ourselves, relative to others and our environment. Depression about the past, feelings of loss and regret, can hold us in dark places – akin to being trapped in a cave pressed in by feelings of doom and foreboding, fuelled by the hurts and disappointments we’ve experienced.

Fears about the future can make us feel afraid to hope, as if expecting the worst is a safer bet. Negative thoughts feed feelings that can hold us in a painful limbo, preventing us from experiencing our own aliveness now.

Whether we have a diagnosed mental health problem or not we are all inevitably bruised by life, and the defences and symptoms we develop as a result can prevent us from experiencing life and love to the full.

The psychotherapy process helps to unlock and heal the patterns of the past, etched into us from childhood and negative life experiences, and by becoming more aware of these we can start to question our old self-concepts. We can express the pain, unravel the complexes and begin to loosen the hold of old ideas that we can wrap around us like threadbare clothes. It isn’t an easy process, but it can unlock our life forces from untrue and negative ideas, freeing us to more richly experience ourselves, relationships and our environment.

In the process of Psychotherapy, the therapist acts as a mirror, reflecting ourselves back to ourselves. She becomes a fellow traveller in the exploration of our inner world, supporting, challenging and suggesting strategies to cope better. When we know ourselves better we can make more informed choices, as we are less controlled by unconscious or hidden forces. 

Psychotherapy helps to: -

• Gain insight into our internal worlds and as a result we have more conscious control of our lives
• Rediscover our true selves behind the defences we build as a result of our emotional injuries
• Develop more positive, supportive ideas so that we can live more effective lives