You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what you want to talk about, where to begin or how to explain what you are feeling. We can begin with what is happening now and understand more as the work develops.
You can tell me what you know, what you are unsure about and what you do not yet have words for.
There is no requirement to provide your whole history in the first conversation. Something apparently small may turn out to matter, while something that seemed central may look different once we understand more of the life around it.
Therapy can have direction without demanding that you already know the destination.
As we work together, things may begin to connect. We may notice patterns in relationships, feelings or behaviour, beliefs about yourself or other people, or differences between what you think, feel and do.
A way of coping may once have protected you, helped you remain connected to someone important or made a difficult situation bearable. Understanding why it became necessary does not mean that you must keep living by it.
Sometimes I will listen and give something time. At other times I may ask a question, make an observation, point out a contradiction or suggest that we stay with something rather than move away from it.
I will not decide what is right for you, and I will not assume that my first understanding is correct. We can examine an idea together, including the possibility that I have misunderstood you.
There may be times when something I say does not sit right, you disagree with me, I misunderstand you or you feel the therapy is not helping. I would want us to be able to talk about that.
Difficult moments do not necessarily mean therapy has gone wrong. They can help us understand what happened between us and, sometimes, illuminate what becomes difficult in other relationships.
You do not have to agree with me for therapy to work. The purpose is not to produce a particular feeling in every session, but to understand more fully what is happening and create more choice in how you respond.
Your choices remain yours, even as understanding develops between us.
Counselling offers a private and confidential professional relationship in which you can explore thoughts, feelings, behaviour, relationships and experiences. This may include what is happening now, events from the past and how different parts of your life may be connected.
Counselling includes many approaches and may be brief or continue for longer. Its depth is not determined by a set number of sessions.
Psychotherapy covers much of the same ground. It may give sustained attention to emotional and relational patterns, earlier experiences, ways of coping and parts of ourselves that are difficult to recognise or express.
It may be brief, structured or longer-term. Different approaches place attention on different aspects of experience, but there is no single form of psychotherapy.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy offers a structured way of understanding how depression may be connected to grief, conflict, changing roles or difficulties within relationships.
Counselling and psychotherapy have different histories, but much of their work overlaps. I do not understand them as two separate activities divided by a clear line or by the number of sessions offered.
Both can help us understand what is happening now, what may have been carried from the past, and how feelings, relationships, culture, identity and ways of coping are connected.
Person-centred counselling provides the foundation of my work: respect for your experience, careful listening and trust in your ability to develop your own understanding. Interpersonal and psychodynamic thinking can help us consider relationships, loss, conflict, change, earlier experiences and patterns that may sit outside awareness.
These are not separate modes that I move between. Together, they shape how I listen, understand and respond. We can begin with what feels most important now while remaining open to the experiences and patterns connected to it. The focus, depth and pace develop through what you bring and what we come to understand together.
A free 15-minute introductory conversation before 5pm gives you an opportunity to ask questions and get a sense of whether we may work well together. You do not need to commit to therapy before we speak.
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