My areas of interest
Over the years I've developed specialisms in a few different areas of psychotherapy
Life Script: how and why we repeat patterns in our lives and our relationships, time and again. How our past is tangled up in our present, and how to untangle it. Whatever brings you to therapy, this is usually an important part of the story.
Working with Highly Sensitive People (HSP), a genetic trait of 15-20% of the population, which means you notice more, process experiences more deeply and are more prone to overstimulation or overwhelm. It also means you're well-suited to getting a lot out of therapy! And that we have to pay attention to pacing ourselves along the way. I'm interested in neurodiversity in general.
How our bodies know more than we expect - and how to tune in to what our bodies can tell us. I wasn't surprised to read that our gut is our second brain. I place a lot of emphasis on checking in with our stomach sensations. We can also notice other autonomic nervous system (ANS) sensations to access knowledge that may be unavailable to our thinking minds.
Linked to the above, I provide trauma-aware therapy by inviting clients to join me in noticing their body responses as we talk. I keep in mind the safety-seeking, fight/flight and shut-down roles of our autonomic nervous systems as we work together.
I'm also interested in burnout and chronic fatigue. Every person's path to burnout is different. Often we reach a place of burnout because we ignore or override our body's signals for too long. Maybe 'Be Strong' is a central part of your script, or you are an HSP and the world of work is not designed for you. Once we understand how you got there, we can find a way out.
Qualifications
I'm registered with UKCP as a Certified Transactional Analyst with a post-graduate diploma in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy.
I'm also a member of IARTA, the International Association of Relational Transactional Analysis.
I have an MSc in Occupational Psychology and an MA in Experimental Psychology.