My practice is informed by my understanding of the healing process as a movement towards greater wholeness and vitality- what Carl Jung calls the process of individuation. In fact, the word "healing" comes from the old Germanic word "heilen" which means to make whole. 

Our pain can manifest in a variety of ways- depression, anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia, low self-esteem, addictions, relationship difficulties, isolation and many more. Whatever form our pain takes, the symptoms are calling for our attention. “Please pay attention to us”, they say. “Stop ignoring us. If you listen to us, we can show you what you need”. In many cases, our pain may have its origins in early life experiences which we were not able to process at the time usually because of a lack of attuned support. These early wounds can be compounded by later difficulties. Unaddressed and unresolved personal distress leaks out into the world impacting our own life and the lives of those around us.

Safely exploring difficulty

It is my intention to help you turn towards what is difficult in your experience, to turn towards your pain, providing a warm, safe container in which you feel held, supported and welcome. When we feel relationally safe and held, then we can tolerate and bear even the most overwhelming and distressing thoughts and feelings. We can allow ourselves to explore what is difficult including things we may have blocked out of our awareness or minimised. 

It is important to emphasise here that we go slowly and we do not rush into talking about difficult experiences or memories before we are ready as doing so prematurely can be counter-productive. 

Resourcing

Whilst it is important to be able to safely explore what is difficult, it is at least as important to cultivate and deepen our relationship to what resources us. Something resources us if it helps us to feel more grounded and more emotionally and physiologically regulated.  When we are resourced, we feel calm, relaxed, open and curious.  From this place, we can more readily explore difficulty. 

What resources us varies from person to person but typically includes things like a supportive relationship, a pet, physical exercise, nutritious food, staying hydrated, being in nature, doing hobbies and activities we enjoy, getting enough rest, bodywork and many other things.  Feeling emotionally overwhelmed has a disorganising effect on our nervous system and it is therefore vital to resource our nervous system with practices that lead it towards greater coherence, integration and regulation especially when doing this work.  I will support you to do this both in and outside the sessions. 

Healing

We go at our own pace and gradually,  over time, our tolerance to experience discomfort grows, our resilience increases, and we experience a sense of release and expansion as the psychic knots begin to loosen. The energy that has been bound up in these blockages becomes available to us and we feel a renewed sense of vitality and aliveness. We may find that negative patterns of thinking or behaviour which no longer serve us loosen their grip on us. We feel more ourselves and experience a growing confidence and trust in ourselves. 

Strengthening from within

I believe we all have an inner wisdom that knows what we need and which, given the right conditions and support, we can tap into and reawaken. It is my intention to support you in moving towards this wiser, happier, more confident self.