How I work

What you can expect

Starting therapy begins with an initial meeting (one hour) to talk through what has been going on for you that has motivated you to begin therapy. We will discuss how the therapy can progress and some of the practical aspects too. This first meeting is free of charge. You can then take some time to decide about continuing with further sessions.

For weekly sessions, we would generally meet at the same time each week. As well as the practical necessity, making this commitment to utilise this hour each week for your own exploration in therapy can be an important step in itself. I can also offer online sessions if you can’t attend in-person. Where possible, I encourage clients to think about therapy as being open-ended, meaning that we take a decision about concluding the work when you feel ready rather than pre-specifying a length-of-time in advance, but this doesn’t have to be the case.

Being in psychotherapy

Whilst psychotherapy is best understood through the experience of being in sessions, some people like to know a bit about the approach to therapy and where it can all lead.

My approach to psychotherapy, taught by the Karuna Institute, is inherently integrative. A central idea in the work is giving space for patient attention to explore what comes up for you at all levels of experience – making room to understand how things are not just cognitively but also at the basic feeling / tonal level that is often kept from our awareness. It is my sense that working in this mindful way helps people find safety and openness to be with their experience as a route to enjoying greater self-love and freedom. This weaves together classic psychological ideas (such as theories of personality development and trauma) with more ancient contemplative practices (such as the Buddhist tradition) that foreground building an appreciation of the inherently valuable core within every life. As with many forms of therapy, there is also a place to consider in a more tangible way, the choices one can make - realizing spaciousness to find ease in the midst of difficulty as well as discovering your values and desires that can give your life the most meaning possible.