Therapy.

I offer psychodynamic therapy in Maidstone, Kent and online via video call.

Many of us come to believe that something is fundamentally wrong with us because life feels harder than it seems for other people. Our emotions may feel too much to carry or we might feel distant from ourselves, from those around us, or from life itself. You may have spent a long time trying to manage alone, burying painful feelings or telling yourself that you should have moved on by now.

I believe that your difficulties begin to make sense when we take the time to understand the experiences that have shaped you. As we make sense of your past and the context of your life, it often becomes clear that you are not broken or flawed. Instead, your mind and body have been doing their best to adapt to what you've lived through.

You may have been thinking about therapy for some time. You might still be unsure whether what you're experiencing is “serious enough” or whether therapy could actually help. You don't need to have everything figured out before you contact me. If something in your life isn't making sense, you're struggling to cope or you simply feel that you don't want to continue feeling the way you currently do, you're welcome to get in touch.

I'm an experienced, BACP registered Psychodynamic Counsellor and Psychotherapist in Maidstone, with additional training in trauma-informed counselling. I work with adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, anger, bereavement and other emotional difficulties. I also have experience working with clients with an existing diagnosis including personality disorders (such as Borderline Personality Disorder) and eating disorders.

I trained in Psychodynamic Counselling at Highgate Counselling Centre in London, where I completed a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling. Since qualifying, I have continued my professional development through additional training.

I work from a trauma-informed psychodynamic approach. Psychodynamic therapy is interested in the connections between your past experiences, your emotions, your relationships and the way you experience yourself today. Sometimes we develop ways of coping that were necessary or helpful at one point in our lives but become unhelpful later. We might push feelings away, struggle to trust people, become overwhelmed by emotions, repeatedly find ourselves in difficult relationships or feel that we have to stay in control all the time. These patterns can be difficult to understand when we're experiencing them from the inside.

Therapy provides a space where we can slow things down and become curious about what is happening. Together, we can explore feelings, experiences and patterns that may have been difficult to make sense of on your own. My role isn't to judge you or tell you how you should live your life. I'll listen, reflect, ask questions and, when it feels appropriate, gently challenge or explore things that may help you see yourself and your experiences differently. The aim is to develop a deeper and more compassionate understanding of yourself and the experiences that have shaped you and in turn find a version of you which isn’t held back by your emotional past.

Ignoring our emotions does not mean they go away, unwanted emotions are like lightning: they will ground themselves somewhere, often expressing themselves in undesirable ways. The better we understand our emotions, and what they are truly a reaction to, the better we can become at regulating and challenging them. Part of the work I do with my clients is to recognise what they have been avoiding and to try to understand the emotional and bodily effects that it has had: why do you jump at the sound of a car horn, why are you enraged over a stranger accidentally brushing against you, why do you see danger in the shadows, why do you struggle to trust people, why do your relationships break down. 

I work by having an initial session, which is an opportunity for us to meet and discuss you, your past, your present and what has brought you into therapy. Within this session we will discuss fees, the therapeutic frame and the practicalities of our work. We will then have further sessions at an agreed fee, time and place. I tailor my work to the individual so these sessions have no set agenda, they form an opportunity for me to hear from you about your life and you can get a feel for how I work.

I offer long-term, open ended therapy on a weekly basis. This means that we do not agree an end date for the therapy, we will continue until a point when you feel you wish to bring our work to a close. I also offer short-term therapy over 12 weekly sessions which will have a set and agreed end date. Short term therapy is normally most helpful for a particular issue which you wish to address and tends to be focussed on or around the issue for the duration of the 12 sessions. If you're unsure which type of therapy is going to be most helpful then this is something which we can discuss and agree in our initial sessions.

Normally our sessions will be at the same time on the same day each week, they will last 50 minutes and I charge £60 for an initial session.  I only work with my clients on a weekly basis, I do not offer fortnightly or monthly sessions, this is because when the space between the sessions becomes too large then the effect of our work is dramatically reduced. Our sessions will be confidential and will be held in a private space, if we are working remotely via video call you will need to ensure you have access to a private space where you will be undisturbed. 

The content of our sessions is within your control, what we speak about will be decided by you, I am there to explore, reflect and be with your emotions.