My Approach
I welcome diversity, and believe in the richness of each person bringing themselves and their uniqueness to the therapy, without expectation on my part.
I commit to creating a growthful and safe environment, where a person can feel physically and emotionally free from threat. I know that therapy can be a challenging process: it takes courage, commitment, curiosity and self-compassion to accept difficult feelings as we navigate our way together.
I have an integrative approach, meaning that I am trained to use various approaches to talking therapy. I tailor my approach, drawing on different aspects of my experience and my skills, depending on your particular situation.
I integrate new ways of working all the time and my practice is alive and flexible, but at the core, these modalities describe the essence of my work:
The Humanistic, or Person-Centred approach:
My approach is largely Humanistic, which means that I believe that selfunderstanding and growth come about best when working in relationship.
The person-centred approach is a way of working together that seeks to provide the most beneficial conditions to allow your natural ‘knowingness’ of yourself to flourish and help you in the life you want to live. This innate knowledge of your balanced, thriving self, is often blocked or disrupted by life experiences, especially those that question, undermine, or damage our sense of our value.
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The therapeutic relationship is at the heart of our work. I provide a warm, non-judgemental, and empathic relationship. In balance, I am also strong and boundaried, and together we recognise your strengths, creativity and choices in the here and now, as well as your difficulties. I trust in your innate knowlege of yourself—even though this may feel obscured by life’s complexities at this moment in time—knowing that through a deeper understanding and recognition of yourself comes illumination and change. This approach focuses on reconnecting with your values, your growth, and your identity, as well as recognising your responsibilities and choices, as a route to self-awareness and fulfilment.
This is a powerful way of working as you come to learn that you yourself are the expert: building to a natural autonomy and freedom in which therapy does not become a ‘crutch’.
This approach is particularly effective for dealing with issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress, which often have their roots in a loss of self-esteem, a lack of self-reliance, self-criticism, and are barriers to self-awareness.
Somatic therapy: tuning in to the body’s physiological and emotional messages
Somatic therapy is a wonderful way of gaining a ‘new view’ on yourself, by tuning in to the messages from the body (soma) expressed as vitality, pain, or numbness. ‘Neural’ refers to the system of nerves that includes the brain – when we consider that 70% of neural messages originate in the body and travel to the brain, with the body informing the brain about how we are in the moment, we can start to appreciate the enormous significance of tuning in to what our bodies are trying to inform us of. We might ask: What is the language of the body telling us? What is actually happening physiologically? How do we interpret the vitality, numbness or pain we are feeling, and what is the body trying to call to consciousness?
Many messages from the body reach parts of the brain that are out of our conscious awareness, shaping our daily experiencing and living unawares. In our work together, we work towards finding a language or attunement that brings these messages into our counsciousness.
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Neuroscience shows us that these repeated messages from the body shape our brains. Neuroplasticity refers to the continual changes in the brain over a lifetime (structurally, chemically, and actively) that are influenced by the world we are in, what we do, and how we feel. Much of the creative language of all cultures has its roots in the knowledge of the body: in English we use expressions such as ‘gut instinct’, ‘sinking feeling’, ‘my stomach turned over’, ‘my heart leapt out of my chest’, ‘my knees went to jelly’, and so on. And yet there can be a priority (and unfair expectation) placed on the capacities of the brain alone.
When we have a natural affinity with these messages between brain and body, we tend to flow well through daily life, both brain and body tuning in to each other to meet life’s challenges and enjoy life’s pleasures. Trauma, anxiety, stress, depression, addiction all serve to mask this essential dialogue – leaving us with the limited option of trying to ‘think our way out’ of our pain or situation. If strain on the brain worked, we would have had greater success in dealing with our suffering.
This process of a healthy flow between body and mind can become disrupted through challenges or experiences which have the effect of interrupting the wholesome functioning of the nervous system and the brain’s usual responses, and that can eventually manifest in pain and illness. This pain and illness is real, and is known by the term ‘psychosomatic’. The dance between the psyche and the soma can be healthy, or it can be unhealthy; the psychosomatic pain and illness that results from the unhealthy dance needs careful recognition for the serious impact it can have on daily living.
Somatic therapy can also be a wonderful resource for tuning in to and understanding what we experience in our bodies as a result of trauma. ‘Trauma’ describes what is held in the body following an overwhelming experience, or repeated experiences, or a continued lack of essential relational conditions that humans require to develop and thrive, particularly in childhood. The therapeutic relationship offers a way of learning to tune in to the vitality of the body, as well as to those messages intended to alert us to something that needs our attention.
A cornerstone of my work with trauma is Polyvagal Theory and the collaborative work of neuroscientist Stephen Porges and pshychotherapist Deb Dana.
In my work, I am committed to having this holistic view and broader, more nuanced understanding of health. With 30 – 35% of GP appointments spent on UPPSs (Unexplained Persistent Physical Symptoms), I am seeing an increasing number of clients who have been referred to talking therapy by their GPs. These UPPSs are rooted in the disrupted correspondence between body and psyche.
Of course, our corporeal body speaks in many ways: it can tell others how we are feeling, whether we want it to or not – if we are defended or open, if we are flushed and embarrassed. Importantly, it can also highlight our difference and identity, ideally an opportunity for celebration and joy, but which can also lead to direct or indirect discrimination for characteristics such as skin colour, disability, a speech impediment, and others.
Somatic therapy can be helpful in working with conditions such as IBS, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure.
The Psychodynamic approach:
Another influencing factor in my work is the Psychodynamic approach. At times it will be important to link past events to present difficulties, to explore the legacy of both unconscious and remembered influences in our lives, and to lean in to exploring them consciously.
This approach can work well with somatic therapy, as very often the messages about what we are unconsciously dealing with are held in the body. Being in a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship can help us understand our actions and interactions, and to see them for what they are. We will be able to more clearly see whether our actions and interactions are welcome or inhibiting, rewarding or alienating, whether they help us to attach healthily to others or have the effect of pushing them away (Attachment Theory), and to embody those that are helpful, or heal those that are unhelpful.
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The ‘dynamic’ in ‘Psychodynamic’ refers to the dynamic between the client and their concept of their self. We each have a concept of our self: consider, for example, that we might use the reflective phrase “I don’t feel myself today”. Together, we can explore the various aspects of this self that make up you as a whole person.
‘Dynamic’ of course also refers to power and capability. Practicing in a ‘psychodynamic’ way brings to our understanding the limitless activity going on within us, that continuous and vital hum of life, feelings and thoughts that you may have tuned out of in an effort to protect yourself, or that is so loud you might feel overwhelmed by the cacophony.
Using fresh eyes, ears, and understanding of the message feelings bring, can empower you to live life with more clarity and choice.