With whom do I work?
I work with anyone for whom I believe it is appropriate for me to do so. My view on that will be based on your situation and needs and my own experience and competences. It will be important for you too to make a careful choice. We can talk through all of this when we first meet and as we go.
Should we choose to work together, our relationship will be at the heart of who we are as a client-therapist partnership. Holding a considered view as to whether you and I are a good working fit will be one of my primary roles as therapist; and much of our initial time together will be spent building trust and getting to know one another.
I am LGBTQIA+ friendly. I am friendly to all.
My approach.
My aim throughout therapy is to help you voice your struggles and better make sense of them. Within this, my approach is one of trust, collaboration, engagement and non-judgement in a relaxed, supportive yet active atmosphere.
Working in this way offers you the opportunity to clarify experiences, tell your story, gain insight and reflect on your situation. Your courage and willingness to be open and honest will be an important part of the work. You will open out a better understanding of yourself, your power to choose, your limitations and possibilities.
What I am describing here is my take on some of the ideas of existential psychotherapy, which provides the broad foundation for my practice.
What else do I draw upon to inform my practice?
For me, being an existential psychotherapist is an expression of who I am and how I choose to live my life. It is important to me to explore life and myself in it, to bring awareness and honesty to what I find, and in all of that to be open and vulnerable to the World and those I meet in it.
In this way, psychotherapy is simply a means by which I encounter you, another person. As is right and appropriate, I will hold certain professional and ethical responsibilities on your behalf and contribute my skill; but the intention and spirit with which I sit with you will be consistent with who it is that I am. Happily, this makes for a balanced client-therapist relationship and allows you to find (if needs be) and hold your own autonomy, power and responsibility for yourself in your life with increasing skill. Here, much of our shared work will take place in authentic, open, wakeful discussion.
I have particular interest in human attachment systems, biochemistry and neurobiology and how they are an essential part of who we are and how we experience our lives. I work hard to keep my practice grounded in current scientific understanding.
Similarly, the union of mind and physical body is central to what I do. I recognise the value of yoga, meditation and breath-work, and more besides.
I am open to wisdom in all its forms and wherever it might show itself. What is waiting for us to learn from the Natural World is of particular importance to me. In keeping with this, I take as holistic and complete a view of the human condition – as we personally live it here and now, in Europe in the twenty-first century – as I can. This includes taking into account what we know of our place in the Cosmos and our historical and evolutionary pasts.
Some of my working week is spent working as a solicitor in the business world. I can draw upon my experience there when it is helpful for us.
