THERAPY
The idea of starting psychological therapy may seem daunting, but the experience is often much easier than you may think. It can even be fun.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ with therapy and so every intervention is adapted to fit the individual. I am confident tailoring evidence-based psychological practice to work with complex presentations. This includes neurodiverse individuals, people who engage in self-harm, and those who and with those who have experienced significant trauma, abuse, and neglect. Beginning from a strong, shared formulation can help us to identify what to prioritise and how to best begin moving forward.
Some of the issues I help Individuals and families to address include:
Anxiety (including social anxiety, specific phobias, compulsions and obsessions, and generalised worry)
Depression, low mood, and low self-esteem
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex trauma responses
Behaviour difficulties in children and teens
Strained relationships within families following stress, trauma, or loss
Improving the understanding of an connection with emotions, and learning safe and effective emotion regulation skills
My Practice
My therapeutic work is grounded in evidence-based theory and practice but is led by you and your needs. Sessions can involve talking, writing, drawing, or other creative ways to explore issues, but we can decide together how we want to do this work and at what pace. I ensure that time is taken to build a positive working relationship and develop a clinical formulation and plan together, working from your strengths, interests, and goals, so that you feel safe and ready for each step.
Sessions can also be online or in person in the lovely clinic space I call home in Hackney, London, or a combination of both.
I work therapeutically with children, teenagers, young adults, and caregivers (including parents, foster carers, and other guardians) to help people get closer to the life they want to be living. Often this means working exclusively with the individual about the issues that are important to them. We discuss your goals and we think collaboratively about how sessions will look.
However, for work with children or teenagers, therapy may involve working with the parents of the young person, or a combination of individual and family work. Working directly with caregivers allows for the discussion and practice of ideas and strategies in session that you can then implement every day with your young person at home, taking advantage of your motivation to make changes in the household to help others in the family make changes as well. Working directly with young people can also have advantages, providing a safe space to discuss worries and develop ways to overcome challenges can be very empowering and build resilience and independence.
I am formally trained and experienced in using a variety of different therapeutic approaches, and so utilise aspects of each approach to tailor-make sessions that suit you. Some of my favourite therapeutic modalities and theories include:
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
This aims to increase your understanding of your emotions, and learning to identify and manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in safe and effective ways.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a highly effective and well-evidenced approach to working with traumatic and other ‘stuck’ memories and beliefs, to help people move forward with their lives.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Looks to help people change while also accepting themselves as they are, working to improve emotional understanding and regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness skills.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
A cognitive and behavioural approach that aims to notice and accept difficult thoughts and feelings rather than trying to change them.
Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT)
Encouraging people to become more compassionate toward themselves and others.
Social Learning Theory (SLT)
The idea that much of how we express our needs is learned by observing others and reinforcement (i.e. if something works for us, or seems to work for others, we’re likely to keep doing it).
I also keep the importance of attachment relationships, neurodiversity, and experiences and the impact of early adverse experiences in mind throughout every intervention, including how best to strengthen relationships with caregivers, family, and friends, and to help young people to feel safe after difficult beginnings.