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Therapy begins with understanding where you are, not with rushing into where you've been.

If you are considering therapy, you may have questions about what will happen, whether this is the right kind of support for you, and whether you will feel comfortable working with me.

We begin gently.

 

1. A conversation

The first step is a free 15-minute telephone or online conversation.

This gives you an opportunity to tell me briefly what is bringing you to therapy, ask questions and get a sense of whether you might feel comfortable working with me.

You don't need to tell me your whole story.

 

2. Assessment

If we decide to continue, our first full meeting is a 90-minute assessment session.

This gives us time to understand what is happening for you now, what you would like help with, your history and experiences where relevant, and the resources and support you already have around you.

We will also think together about what kind of therapy may be most helpful.

There is no expectation that you disclose or revisit traumatic experiences before you are ready.

 

3. Safety & stability

Before working directly with difficult or traumatic experiences, we make sure there is enough safety, stability and capacity to do so.

This may include understanding how your nervous system responds to stress, developing resources for emotional regulation and strengthening your ability to remain present when difficult feelings arise.

For some people this is a relatively short part of therapy. For others it is an important piece of the work in its own right.

 

4. Working with what remains unresolved

When it is appropriate, we can begin working more directly with the experiences, memories or patterns that continue to affect your life.

Depending on what you need, I draw on relational psychotherapy, trauma-focused and somatic approaches, and EMDR.

We work at a pace that allows the therapy to be effective without overwhelming you.

 

5. Integration & reconnection

Therapy is not only about reducing symptoms or processing what happened.

It is also about what becomes possible afterwards.

That might mean greater confidence, clearer boundaries, more satisfying relationships, being able to rest, making different choices, rediscovering pleasure or simply feeling more fully yourself again.

The process isn't always linear. We may move between these stages as the work develops. You remain part of the decisions we make about your therapy throughout.