I have over 25 years experience of helping people who are struggling with a wide range of problems including depression, bereavement, abuse, and relationship problems. I work with both individuals and couples. 
I understand how life can come to feel too much, when your own resources feel depleted and those close to you no longer know how to respond. At times like these you might start to think about seeking help. I offer a safe, professional, confidential service, a place to talk, to feel heard, and to find relief from all the confusion of feelings and thoughts in your head and heart.
Coming for counselling or psychotherapy can feel daunting and you might wonder how you will feel describing all your most painful experiences to a complete stranger, and yet it is often the very fact of it being separate from your everyday life that makes it feel safe. 

You might wonder how just talking is going to change anything. You may not know what is wrong and fear not knowing what to say. In my experience simply having the space to talk is therapeutic in itself. My role is to help you in that process of finding the right words and of getting to know yourself better and gaining a new perspective on your problems.

I do not generally tell you what to do. I listen and respond to what you say, getting a sense of how you experience life and relationships, of what motivates you, and then I work with that to help you to bring about change. We often have a very distorted view of ourselves and judge our own actions harshly, fearing that others will do the same, and being able to hear someone else's perspective on our thoughts and actions can help to modify those harsh judgments.

At it's most simple a counselling or psychotherapy session is a conversation between two, or in the case of couples therapy three, people. Then it's a question of what you are looking for. For example short term therapy/counselling of, say, between 6-20 sessions might focus on a current problem, e.g problems at work or in a relationship, or a bereavement.

In therapy lasting longer than 6 months it is possible to work more deeply and explore the roots of your problems, which will involve seeking to understand the impact of childhood experiences on your adult life. Understanding the link between past and present can be very helpful in bringing about new insight and change.

Long term in-depth psychotherapy, of up to 3 sessions a week allows time for an exploration of unconscious processes and patterns of behaviour and thoughts which have been set since early childhood, and uses the therapeutic relationship to bring these into consciousness so that they may be thought about and worked on together, enabling lasting change to take place. In more intensive work I will make use of dreams and images, and even the seemingly irrelevant and random thoughts that arise during a session, all of which can provide insight into deeper fears and anxieties which might be preventing you from moving on. You have the option of using the couch rather than the chair which can help you to get more in touch with your feelings.