Individual Therapy
I work with individuals (18+ years) wanting to improve their mood, anxiety, emotion regulation, and relationships, as well as those wanting to understand and change how their family of origin and history continues to shape their relational patterns and wellbeing today.
When we struggle to put words to and make sense of experiences, it can feel overwhelming and anxiety-provoking. By first understanding what has happened and how your emotional and behavioural responses fit into this context, this allows you to then move forward into self-compassion for yourself, whilst also making conscious decisions around how you want to respond or behave. Therapy is a safe space that allows you to do just this.
This may be particularly pertinent during the perinatal period (during pregnancy and postpartum). Sometimes, for many different reasons, you may experience anxiety or low mood either during pregnancy or following the birth of your baby. You might feel it impacting your capacity to be present with your baby in the way that you want, and the emotions may feel overwhelming. Whether the desire is to take what was wonderful from your own childhood and integrate into your own family, or break generational patterns of trauma, the perinatal period is naturally a time of reflection and change.
Q. What should I expect of therapy?
The first session is a clinical assessment that usually runs for 50 minutes. In some cases, it may be appropriate to book in an extended initial consultation between 75-90 minutes, but this will be discussed with you beforehand. All subsequent sessions run for 50 minutes.
At your initial session, some time will be spent understanding and gathering information about your concerns and difficulties; when these difficulties began, how you have tried to manage so far, and other relevant information that may include your childhood and social/work/family life. Towards the end of the session, your psychologist may provide some feedback in order to come to a shared understanding about your difficulties, as well as some suggestions as to how therapy might be helpful. Following this, if you would like, further sessions can be scheduled.
Q. Is there anything I should prepare for/be aware of?
The first session usually does cover a lot of ground in term of your story and life. For some people, it can be the first time they’ve spoken to someone about their life in this way, and as such, it can feel somewhat heavy emotionally or draining following this session. I’d firstly recommend even letting your therapist know if this the case, but regardless, it would be helpful to think of giving yourself some time/space afterwards to do something nice that you know usually helps your mood - even sometime as simple as sitting in the sun for 5 minutes with a cup of tea!
Q. How many sessions will be needed?
The number of sessions needed varies depending on the individual’s needs and goals. Generally, between 8-15 sessions may be needed, with some individuals needing more or less.
Note: I do not provide medico-legal reports or psychometric assessments.