“Agency starts with what scientists call interoception, our awareness of our subtle sensory, body-based feelings: the greater that awareness, the greater our potential to control our lives.”

— Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score

How I work

Something that is strongly embedded in my practice and approach is a desire to empower people to move towards what matters to them, while cultivating a sense of agency over the decisions they face in their day to day lives.  I am particularly passionate about helping people strengthen their sense of self, and I regularly witness the positive impact this can have on people's lives in terms of establishing healthy boundaries and gaining increased life satisfaction.

Over the course of our lives we learn that certain habits and behaviours ‘work’, in certain contexts, to meet certain needs. Even if they can be counterproductive or feel like self-sabotage, there is usually a good reason for why we do what we do. This idea, known as functional contextualism, forms the basis of my approach, and informs the majority of the models from which I work. These include: 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

A form of behaviour therapy that aims to increase psychological flexibility through identifying what you care about and helping you to handle the discomfort that can arise when pursuing those things.

Coherence Therapy

An approach that explores why our behaviour patterns may once have made sense and developed as our only way of coping early in life. This approach explores the implicit lessons and beliefs we formed and how they affect us and play out in the present.

Body-based work

Integrative mind-body techniques such as breathing and movement, mindfulness, and guided visualisation that help cultivate increased emotional balance and equanimity.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

To increase awareness of the interconnectedness of thoughts, feelings and actions. Behavioural and cognitive skills to help foster mastery and confidence over chosen goals and life directions.

Compassion-Focused Therapy

Based on an understanding of the systems that influence how we regulate our emotions, this approach uses various practices to cultivate a kinder perspective of ourselves and others.