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Imagine how it might feel to sit with someone who really sees you, perhaps for the first time.  This can be a powerful moment and a useful building block in our relationship.  My job isn’t just to listen and reflect but to dig deeper, to detect what might lie behind the words, on occasion to provoke and surprise.

You may feel overwhelmed by a particular event, recent or unresolved from the past.  You may be overcome by anxiety for reasons you can’t put your finger on.  A relationship may be breaking down and you feel powerless to influence matters. Certainties that previously anchored you have melted away.  You have lost yourself in a busy, pressurised life where others’ needs are met but not yours.

My own restrictive upbringing prevented me from facing fundamental aspects of myself; therapy played a vital role in confronting them, in breaking through rigid defences built over many years and in moving my life forward.  But there are reasons aside from sexuality that can make a person feel isolated, on the outside, and you can explore these. I have experienced deep loss of loved people in my life.  I have lived through my own illness in recent years.  While it’s important to appreciate that everyone’s  experience is individual, my own has touched and informed me.  I am now taking steps towards more targeted training around bereavement and coping with cancer.

Our sessions can strip away the things that aren’t helping you.  We can clearly confront the reality of your life and show what your real choices are.  This is done with care and without judgement.  I can provide a setting that enables you to find resolution and peace of mind, at least for enough of the time.

Perhaps this is already a familiar process for you or it may be the first time and it feels like a big step.  An initial audio or video call will help us to sound each other out, to see if we’re a fit, before committing to a session.  To build momentum it makes sense for the sessions to be weekly, at least to start with; usually it becomes clear to both parties when and if it’s the right time to space them out more, or indeed to bring them to a close; counselling may serve its purpose for a particular period and it can always be resumed at a later date.  There is no ‘one size fits all’.