I am an integrative psychotherapist and EMDR practitioner working in central London* Depending on your needs, I work short-term to deal with a specific issue or on an open-ended basis. 

Therapy with me is a chance to explore why certain things keep happening in your life, why you are experiencing anxiety, depression, or relationship difficulties. Or perhaps, you struggle to understand why childhood experiences still have such a powerful hold on you, and why life isn’t as fulfilling as you would like it to be. We will seek to understand your current issues within the context of your past experiences, relationships, and attachments. An understanding of the past is essential, but positive change occurs in the present. The process of therapy can help you to develop more self-awareness and increase your capacity for self-reliance, enabling you to develop your potential in your own way.

I have a particular interest in understanding trauma through the perspective of early attachment. I take the view that therapy needs to be tailored to each individual client, and that recovery is not about changing who we are, but about finding the person we were supposed to be before the trauma. I focus on finding healthy coping strategies and resources. Once safety and stability has been achieved, we will work to process the trauma if appropriate.

Traumatic experiences happen to many of us. The effects can be both physical and psychological. The impact of a trauma can be long lasting often staying with us long after the experience or event. 

Some of the most common effects of untreated trauma include:

• Flashbacks or disturbing images  
• Avoiding places or situations
• Feeling constantly on high alert  
• Numb or intense emotions
• Fear, anxiety and panic attacks
• Guilt, depression and shame
• Difficulties in maintaining close relationships
• Nightmares and disturbing dreams  

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) 

EMDR is a comprehensive trauma therapy that helps people to recover from traumatic and other distressing experiences. EMDR therapy helps the brain to process distressing memories and allows normal healing to resume. EMDR uses a three-pronged approach; by healing EMDR uses a three-pronged approach; by healing past disturbances, we change the present and alter the future, freeing you to create the life you would like going forward.  

EMDR treats Complex Trauma and PTSD, single traumatic events, attachment traumas and distressing life events. Single event traumas are one-off events such as a serious accident, a personal assault or mugging. Attachment trauma is the psychological wounds received at the hands of our caregivers or significant others. This does not need to be explicit physical or sexual abuse and can also be the result of secondary trauma due to traumatic things you have witnessed.

Attachment Informed EMDR
 
Attachment informed EMDR (AI-EMDR) is a variant of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) which adapts the standard EMDR model to help with current psychological problems which may have their origins in traumatic events experienced in early childhood.

EMDR had expanded beyond trauma and is often used to help clients access new perspectives, improve self-esteem and to shift and expand rigid belief systems. 

The first session

The initial session is a chance for us to meet and explore what is bringing you to therapy. Think of it like a check-in where I will ask lots of question to get a sense of you and for you to get a sense of me. If we decide to work together, sessions are 50 minutes long, and we will meet weekly. 

For the foreseeable future sessions will be held online using Zoom or BilateralBase*.