My Approach

I am an accredited psychotherapist, a qualified mental health nurse, I have an honours degree in psychology and am an authorised meditation and dharma teacher in a Tibetan Buddhist lineage. This broad knowledge base allows me to customise my approach to meet the unique individual needs of my clients. I am not tied down by one modality and specialise in combining western and eastern philosophies of mind. This enables me to work at multiple levels of subtly and depth. The way I work can be split into four categories – psychodynamics, working with the body, the imaginal and Buddhism.

Psychodynamics

Psychodynamics is concerned with how childhood experiences and past relationships shape current feelings, behaviours and personality. We are all shaped by our early environment and care. These adaptions and strategies continue to playout in adulthood influencing our relational styles, emotional wellbeing and internal scripts about who we are and what the world is. We can get stuck in these patterns which can resultantly inhibit our wellbeing and cause us to suffer.

Through exploring our childhood experiences and family system, and how they influence the therapeutic relationship, it is possible to shed light on these adaptive processes. Bringing awareness to the situation is the first step towards freeing ourselves from detrimental and limiting ways of existing in the world. This is done through gentle enquiry and reflection as we uncover evermore deeper layers of conditioning.

Working with the body

Limiting psychotherapy to psychodynamics risks remaining in an abstract space at the level of talking rather than feeling. Our conditioning and traumas cause us to repress painful unwanted emotions such as anger, grief or shame. These negative feeling tones are stored in our bodies and can be experienced in the form of disassociation, anxiety, depression or general feelings of dis-ease and dissatisfaction. By reconnecting ourselves with our bodies and working energetically, we can move towards coherence and wellbeing. This involves regulating our nervous system which can be stuck in a fight or flight response. We do this through embodied mindful attention and relaxation techniques such as breathwork.

Above all, I provide a safe space in which to enquire into and explore difficult emotional states. I work with co-regulation which means that I empathically feel what my clients feel. Over time, our nervous systems merge to become inter-connected. In this way, a bond or heart connection coalesces whilst we journey together towards a wholesome, centred ground of being. 

The Imaginal

Entering the imaginal space involves working with symbols, myths and hidden meanings. Images can act as symbolic portals to deeper understanding and integration. The primary gateway into working this way is to work with dreams. 

I always invite my clients to bring their dreams to therapy as they can reveal the workings of the psyche behind normal everyday awareness. By honouring our dreams, we are honouring communication from what could be broadly described as our higher self. Our dreams can guide us through the integrative process of healing. And, in my experience, simply taking notice and giving our dreams spacious reflection can be transformative. We don’t need to try too hard or be overtly interpretive to benefit.

I also work imaginatively with visualisations. Giving aspects of ourselves images to work with helps us work behind the scenes of our ego consciousness to effect change. Associating difficult emotions or feeling tones with images can aid integration and foster a meaningful relationship with parts of us that are difficult to face.

Buddhism

Western approaches to mind are very good at working with character formation, trauma and developmental processes. However, what can be lacking in these modalities is an appreciation of who we really are in the depths of our being. Buddhism teaches us that, behind the obscuration’s of our conditioning, there is an unconditioned heart of goodness. This is our true self. Psychotherapy is a means to reconnect us with this essence. This reunion cannot be achieved in a formulaic way but rather it is something that arises naturally and organically as therapeutic journey progresses. I have complete faith and confidence in this. 

An integral approach

Utilizing these four broad modalities means that nothing of the human is left out of therapeutic process – our bodies, emotions, relationships, our unconscious and imaginal worlds, as well as our higher spiritual selves, are all incorporated. 

I let my clients set the agenda and I am led by them to explore their world, on their own terms, at whatever level they feel is right for them. In other words, I offer a space for clients to find their own meaning and purpose without imposing a dogmatic belief system. In this way, I provide the right conditions for my clients to forge their own paths towards healing and truth.