Initial Conversation

Once you make contact with me, we can have an initial conversation to discuss what it is that you are looking for from therapy. If we both feel I might be the right person for you, we will arrange an assessment.

Assessment

An appointment is usually made for 2 hours for the assessment so that I can ask you about your past, present, and hopes and expectations for the future, and you can ask me any questions you have. The assessment can be spread out over more sessions if that will suit your needs better. In the assessment, I will ask you about your past and present health, safety, mood, therapeutic interventions, psychological defences, childhood, work life, social life, identity, sexual development, relationships, and any other potential stressors such as legal or financial problems. We will also have a chance to discuss the working agreement which outlines how we will work together. From the assessment, we will have a clearer idea of your needs and how to meet those needs. It is possible that we would find out that I am not the right person to help. If so, we would discuss who would be better suited. I would usually be able to support you in the meantime, if there is a wait to go to another service. Whilst the assessment is not a counselling session, I will not ignore signs of distress and if you are finding the assessment difficult, we will find another way. Most people find the assessment helpful, and often feel unburdened, listened to, and hopeful about the next step.

Ongoing Sessions

With a clearer idea of your needs and how best to meet them, we will be able to arrange ongoing sessions. Sessions look different for everyone.

• There may be periods of psychoeducation as well as therapy where I will teach you information relevant to your specific situation. This could be about secure and insecure attachment styles, personality and emotional development, neurodiversity, self esteem, emotion regulation, to name a few.
• I work with your full consent. We will not force our way through anything, we will only proceed when you feel entirely willing and ready. I work on the basis that, if you are not feeling entirely willing and ready, then we have more work to do before proceeding. This may include stabilising, grounding strategies, learning more coping strategies, learning to trust yourself.
• The shape of therapy can often feel like you are climbing a mountain. At first it is daunting. We take it a step at a time and you may feel like it is a lot of hard work. Then there comes a point where you have reached the peak, and things can start to feel like they’re moving a lot faster, where you gather momentum and can believe you are on your way back to a more comfortable path where you feel able to say goodbye.

End of therapy

Endings are often very difficult for people, and a lot of people have never had a well managed, good ending. Ending therapy when you are ready can be a good way to gain that experience. We will talk about the end of therapy from early on in the process because the aim of therapy is usually to be able to end it when you feel ready. That can also look different for different people. Some people feel able to declare they feel ready to end it, and so it ends. Others prefer slowly winding down, and this is also okay. It can help to know that you can always return to therapy, whether that is with me or somebody else. As part of ending therapy, we will review what you have learned and how you will apply it in the future. We will fill in any gaps, and finish anything we started but haven’t quite completed. We will be able to part with a good feeling, and knowing that there is no unfinished business. Life has a habit of happening and not all endings go according to plan and I will do my best to support you through any ending.