How many sessions will I need?
These are your sessions, and as such it is what fit’s and feels right for you. I value collaboration and flexibility with you in shaping the frequency, length and duration of sessions depending on what’s going on in your world. We can share ideas together on this. For some of my clients, a one off session provides enough clarity and sense making to make the difference that makes a difference. Some find it helpful to book a small block of sessions and review at the end, and book more if this fits for them. Meeting again is never an assumption, always an invitation.
Is it normal to seek therapy?
In some societies more than others, the idea of mental wellbeing and talking therapy holds a stigma. There is no shame in talking, and historically sharing vulnerabilities with another in a safe way for a sense of clarity, growth, healing, direction or gaining multiple perspectives is held in most communities and cultures across the world. What is normal anyway?
How will we create a focus?
We often start with what your hopes, goals and questions are for therapy. I make sure to check in with you each time we speak, on how things are in different spheres of your life as relevant to you (like work, relationship, friendships, home…) this way we can gravitate continuously towards the conversations most important to you. We may even write some clear hopes and aspirations - and these may change along the way.
Will we click?
There’s only one way to find out! It’s natural to wonder about this! As a person who has had more than one therapist myself, I have an experience about what this might be like, yet this question might be different for you.
I believe I am acting out of my own background and contexts in terms of my gender, class, race, ethnicity, spirituality and into your own contexts - and as such I want you to take what feels useful to you and what fits.
Why not take a look at the ‘10 mini stories about me’ on my about me page, or if you have any specific hesitations please don’t hesitate to shoot them at me before we meet using the contact form, or when we speak.
Do you prescribe medication?
No. As a Clinical Psychologist, it is my role to help make sense of problems in ethical collaboration with you without diagnosis, labels, or medicating. It is Psychiatrists, not Psychologists, who use diagnostic manuals (like the DSM-V or ICD-10) and psychiatric drugs. I recommend Psychiatrist Dr. Joanna Moncrieff’s online talks about the limitations of psychiatric drugs, what experts by experience say about them and how they became popularised.
Do you offer CBT?
I am trained and qualified in the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. I have used this approach with many clients and I think it can be very useful in many ways. CBT is super popular in the mainstream.
I find CBT, done badly, can be problematic in some key ways. I deeply value an approach to therapy which put’s problems into the many contexts of their life; that makes sense of normal responses to abnormal circumstances; that considers thoughts yes… but without neglecting dreams, hopes, intentions, testimonies, values, promises, ideas, visions, responses, stories, callings... all of which make life rich, diverse and valuable! Many people particularly people from tight knitt communities find that CBT simply just doesn’t sit right… like wearing an outfit that isn’t tailored properly… and that’s cool since there are other approaches that do fit.
Are all talking therapists the same?
All psychologists, councellors and indeed talking therapists, are different. We each have a unique training journey, additional training, work expeirence and special interests in research, which shape our overall worldview and our theraputic orientation so to speak. We are all informed by our professional bodies, for example the British Psychological Society standards, and we must be registered by the Health and Care Professions Council in order to regulate our practice.
When is the right time to seek therapy?
I wonder who has the power to define what is ever really a ‘right’ time. I might re-phrase the question slightly to ‘what sort of ideas do we have about what is the most useful and helpful time to talk for you’?.
It’s different for everybody. We would certainty have this conversation when we speak for the first time. Often clients say talking about problems can make things feel tricky in the short term before they improve. In narrative therapy, the approach I take, this is why we often tell stories that connect people to things outside of the orbit of the problem stories so that they have a sense of support. It’s sort of it like finding a safe high riverbank from which to sit before looking at the problem in the rushing river. I’ve heard others say talking about strengths is like getting some buoyancy aids into the water before diving in for a swim!
How long is a session?
I offer 1 hour or 1.5 hour long sessions. Here’s a little secret about therapists: A therapist does not just hold you in mind for the one hour you are infront of them. They prepare your sessions with your preferences in mind; process what you bring through walking, writing, drawing; they explore key aspects about your situation with their clinical supervisor as part of their duty of care, as more heads are better than one; they research and look for useful ideas that can help, and when they see something that reminds you of them they make mental notes to tell you about it.
Do you give advice, tools & strategies?
Absolutley, yet the best things I share are often the ideas I have been gifted by the lived experiences of awesome clients, rather from books, lectures or training. I like what Theodore Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again … who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”. You got this far without me, so I’m super interested in your resillience.
