Relationships are central to our sense of well-being. If you have never had counselling or psychotherapy before then this is a good place to start.  Do you struggle to know how you feel?  This can be a common difficulty and may stem back to early childhood experiences.  Do you find it hard to trust yourself to make good decisions?  Do you work hard to please friends, family and work colleagues?  Then individual psychodynamic psychotherapy could be really helpful to build up your self-esteem and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.

You may feel that you just want that space for yourself,  then absolutely individual therapy is the best way forward.  Individual sessions are 50 minutes.  It can be difficult to know how many sessions might be needed so I offer short-term (6 to 9 weeks) and longer-term therapy with periodic reviews.  Reviews can help to monitor progress and perhaps refocus or reshape your personal goals for change. 

If you are finding that it's actually your romantic relationship that's causing most of the problems, then I would say couple therapy would be really helpful. Communication often breaks down when a relationship is difficult so I can meet with you both together, or individually at first and then bring you together.  I will send an initial invitation to you both to meet for an informal chat.

If you have ever struggled to be in the company of others, or have felt out of place in your family you are not alone, group therapy can be really helpful to develop a sense of belonging.  We start off with some individual work in preparation for moving into a psychotherapy group. The group provides a space to build up and develop new relationships with people.  The Northern Irish phrase of becoming ‘ more like yourself ‘ is apt.

I will meet with you several times after the initial consultation in preparation for joining the group, whilst the group also prepares to meet with you.  You may feel anxious to start with because you are meeting strangers, but the beauty of meeting strangers is they are not your family.

The recommendation would be to join the group for a year, but expect to stay for longer.  At first, a year can feel like a long time, but once you get to the six-month point, you think, oh my goodness, the time has really flown by, groups are open-ended so people can stay for longer.  To leave the group, please give one month’s notice as endings are a key part of the therapeutic journey.

Confidentiality is an important aspect of individual, couple and group psychotherapy.  Group members are asked not to discuss any of the group material outside of session to friends or family.  I do have  regular supervision where I reflect on my clinical work and may discuss clinical material but will protect your identity.   Safeguarding concerns, whilst a rare occurrence, are a time when outside help is required.  I have a duty of care to you, to children and the public.  Sometimes when someone is unwell; the risk of harm to self, or risk of harm from others (e.g intimate violence) is greater.  If children are at risk of exposure to harm or being harmed (e.g. domestic violence or grooming) then I do have to intervene and seek advice from Adult and/or Children Safeguarding services.  I will ask your permission to seek further advice with the one exception that if I thought I was putting you at further imminent risk of harm.