Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a therapeutic process that aims to help people understand and resolve their difficulties by increasing awareness of their underlying feelings, thoughts and beliefs and the way these influence past and present relationships.
The relationship between you and your therapist is very important. This is central in giving a safe and private setting where complex issues can be explored. You will be able, and encouraged, to talk about whatever you think and feel.
Our therapists are specialised in the following areas:
Anxiety
It is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. It can be the main symptom of many conditions such as panic disorder, social phobia, PTSD.
Bereavement
It occurs when you experience grief because of the loss of something or someone important to you. If these feelings are affecting your life, you are experiencing bereavement.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that affects your moods, which can swing from one extreme to another. It used to be known as manic depression.
Career Guidance
It provides careers information, personalised guidance/counselling, skills assessment, engaging with the world of work and the teaching of decision-making and career management skills.
Chronic Illness/Pain
Chronic diseases are defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both.
Depression
Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days.
Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms.
They range from lasting feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy and feeling very tearful. Many people with depression also have symptoms of anxiety.
There can be physical symptoms too, such as feeling constantly tired, sleeping badly, having no appetite or sex drive, and various aches and pains.
Divorce
Eating Disorders
An eating disorder is a mental health condition where you use the control of food to cope with feelings and other situations. Unhealthy eating behaviours may include eating too much or too little or worrying about your weight or body shape.
Emotional Dysregulation
Emotional dysregulation is a term used to describe an emotional response that is poorly regulated. When you are experiencing emotional dysregulation, you may have angry outbursts, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and other self-damaging behaviours. Over time, this condition may interfere with your quality of life.
Family Issues
Many things can lead to conflict, such as illness, disability, addiction, job loss, school problems, and marital issues, different personalities clashing and disagreements over ways of doing things, jealousy or fighting between brothers and sisters, parents arguing, new step-parents or step-brothers and sisters.
OCD
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours.
- An obsession is an unwanted and unpleasant thought, image or urge that repeatedly enters your mind, causing feelings of anxiety, disgust or unease.
- A compulsion is a repetitive behaviour or mental act that you feel you need to do to temporarily relieve the unpleasant feelings brought on by the obsessive thought.
Parenting
You might be a parent worried about your child’s behaviour or how a divorce may impact on your family. You might be part of a step-family and need help adjusting, or you may be arguing with parents or siblings and need support communicating with each other.
Personality Disorders
A person with a personality disorder thinks, feels, behaves or relates to others very differently from the average person.
There are several different types of personality disorder. For example, a person with borderline personality disorder (one of the most common types) tends to have disturbed ways of thinking, impulsive behaviour and problems controlling their emotions. They may have intense but unstable relationships and worry about people abandoning them.
Someone with a personality disorder may also have other mental health problems, such as depression and substance misuse.
Phobias
A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal.
Perinatal Mental Health
Having a baby is a big life event and it is natural to feel a lot of different emotions. Some of thoese emotions can sometimes be overwhelming, some other times you can experience sadness or depression.
Relationship Issues
Relationship therapy can help improve the way you relate to those around you and allow you to break free from old patterns of behaviour. Therapists can provide a supportive and non-judgmental environment to help you identify issues or problems in a relationship and find a way through those difficulties.
Self Esteem
Self-esteem is the opinion we have of ourselves. When we have healthy self-esteem, we tend to feel positive about ourselves and about life in general. It makes us better able to deal with life’s ups and downs.
When our self-esteem is low, we tend to see ourselves and our life in a more negative and critical light. We also feel less able to take on the challenges that life throws at us.
Sexual Abuse
When something as traumatic as sexual assault occurs, the effects that follow can include a whirlwind of mixed emotions and consequently long-lasting mental health problems.
Unfortunately, most victims will experience these effects in some capacity. While many common psychological effects of sexual assault include feelings of shame, guilt, or fear, these emotions may be more fleeting and get better as time goes on. In many other cases, the effects are more severe.
Stress
Most people feel stressed sometimes and some people find stress helpful or even motivating. In a way or the other stress can have a huge impact on your life whether it might affect how you feel physically, mentally or how you behave.
Trauma (PTSD)
Going through very stressful, frightening or distressing events is sometimes called trauma. When we talk about emotional or psychological trauma, we might mean situations or events we find traumatic and how these experiences affect us.
Traumatic events can happen at any age and can cause long-lasting harm. Everyone has a different reaction to trauma, so you might notice any effects quickly, or a long time afterwards.
How do I know if psychotherapy is right for me?
It may be that you are experiencing stress, anxiety or depression in your life, or are experiencing relationship problems. It may be that you have worries about the future, or want to understand past experiences. Sometimes such feelings occur in the context of loss or crisis and often these are longstanding difficulties.
Counselling or Psychotherapy?
Counselling is generally considered a relatively short-term option where a specific issue may be looked at over a period of few months, such as a problem at work or a recent bereavement.
Psychotherapy is a longer-term approach, with the intention of making sense of difficulties that seem to repeat themselves in your life. This might include destructive relationship patterns, mood swings and anxious feelings, drug and alcohol misuse or problems with food.
Psychotherapy might last for years and require more than one appointment a week, but this is optional and based on the specific needs of the individual.
FAQs
What happens in the first consultation?
We think about the concerns which bring you or your child and the background to your concerns and we explore possibilities for help.
How long does therapy last?
Therapy can be quite brief or last for some time. It depends on therapeutic needs and to some extent on your availability.
How long is a therapy session?
A session lasts 50 minutes.
How much does a therapy session cost?
Please, see our Fees and Terms to find out how much a session costs.
What are terms and conditions of the therapy?
Please, see our Fees and Terms to find out terms and conditions.
Do I come every week?
Weekly intervals work best, and sometimes more frequently. A longer gap is hard when difficult feelings come up.
Is it confidential?
Yes, it is completely confidential. Please read the Ethics and Confidentiality page for more details.
What about holidays?
There are regular breaks in therapy. Usually these are two weeks at Christmas, one week at Easter and two weeks in the summer, depending on your therapist’s annual leave. Regularity is important in therapy, so if your holidays fall outside these periods it is helpful to let us know as soon as you can.
Book a Consultation
Please double check your e-mail address and phone number before submitting the form, or it will be impossible for us to get back to you. We aim to respond as quickly as possible to messages, however it may take up to 48 hours for us to get back to you.