Counselling & Psychotherapy - ONLINE & East London (E10, E17)

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Hello & Welcome,

My name is Joanna. I am an accredited counsellor & psychotherapist in East London. I offer culturally sensitive therapy through an intersectional lens to individuals, couples and groups.

My approach to therapy is first to create a safe space where one is accepted and valued for who they are, as they are, without judgement. I acknowledge each person as a multifaceted, unique being. With this in mind, I welcome all experiences you may bring into the therapy room.

I work with wide range of psychological and emotional issues, be that stress, anxiety, relationship issues, depression, shame, self-esteem issues, anger, issues of power & oppression, trauma, and others. I have particular expertise dealing with issues of identity, sense of self, and adverse childhood experiences, such as developmental trauma.

Areas I work with include:

• Stress, burnout and feeling like you can’t cope
• Depression, and low mood
• Anxiety, and panic attacks
• Relationship challenges and relationship breakdown
• Childhood adverse events (CAE) such as abuse and neglect
• Issues of power, oppression and privilege
• Cultural identity and issues of belonging
• Issues of sense of self
• Difficulty relating to others
• Issues of self-esteem
• Mood swings
• Shame
• Grief and loss in its many forms
• Repeating patterns of behaving, feeling and thinking
• Sense of lack of purpose or lack of direction
• Sense of emptiness and meaninglessness

If you don't identify with any of the issues listed here, we can first discuss what you need as well as what your hopes and expectations are for our work together. I hope there may be ways in which we can work together, suited to you wherever you are right now in your journey.

I offer a free approx. 15-minute phone assessment so that we can discuss your reasons for seeking therapy and how we might work together. I aim to respond to all voice messages/texts/emails within 24 hours.

Therapy is a very private and personal experience. All discussions with your therapist are handled sensitively and are confidential.

My practice is LGBTQ+ aware and inclusive and I fully accept your sexual, gender or relationship identity.

PRACTICAL DETAILS

At our first session, we can discuss the issues that are of concern to you and your hopes and expectations for our work. This first meeting might help you get a sense of who I am as a person and how I can support you. I believe that it is important that you find a therapist that you feel at ease with, who you get the sense of being able to trust and build a relationship with over time. There is no obligation to continue after this first meeting.

What to expect from the process

I structure my work by ideas from Transactional Analysis (TA). TA therapy draws on the belief that we all have natural tendency towards growth and wellness. Yet, old patterns of relating, feeling and thinking, as well as layers of emotional defences can create blocks interrupting the natural cycle of wellness. The role of psychotherapist is to create the right conditions to remove those blocks.

Therapy provides a space for you to hear and feel what is true for you, and to develop more attentive relationship towards yourself. The relationship you have with yourself is crucial to your own wellbeing and also to creating fulfilling relationships with others.

Seeing yourself anew

TA offers a framework within which we can explore how we have been shaped by our experiences. As we come into this world, we gradually learn how to be and act in ways that allow us to best meet our needs and stay safe.

Often we continue to replay the old strategies in grown up life. However, the strategies that were once useful, can become self-defeating, painful, or problematic. My role as a psychotherapist is to be a mirror to you in which to look at yourself and your life. This means, that if we work together, I will offer curious and compassionate perspective and will help you put your experience into a wider context. This, I hope, will enable you to gain fresh insight in yourself.

Insight in yourself makes choice possible. By becoming aware of your patterns of being in this world, and past adaptations or defences, you can decide to change them and release that which no longer serves you.

Befriending your feelings

Sometimes in order to deal with challenging situations or in times of acute stress, we create distance from our own feelings, needs and desires to protect ourselves from further pain. Our feelings, however, never go away and if left unaddressed for long periods of time, they may lead to psychological issues, or sense of emptiness or alienation. Often, we can’t unblock or unpack our feelings ourselves. My role as a psychotherapist is to create a containing, trusting space for you to feel safe to connect with your feelings without getting too overwhelmed or controlled by them.

If we work together, my hope would be that over time you may eventually be able to embrace and befriend the feelings that you once suppressed or ‘walled off’, and thus feel more connected to yourself and others, present and engaged with life.

Coming home to your body

When feelings are blocked, they block access to life in the body. The body seeks for solution through psychological or psychosomatic symptoms.In the process of therapy, I may bring your attention to your body as we talk. I will invite you to notice your breathing, movement or sound so we can explore together the emotions and body sensations you have learnt to repress and how you continue doing it in order to protect yourself and be in this world.

By identifying, sensing and putting into words the reality of your inner experience, you can connect with what is alive within and feel more at home in your body.