In 2017 I graduated from my Counselling and Psychotherapy training program still experiencing chronic anxiety. The many years of therapy I’d had, along with the professional training all helped. But it wasn’t until I became a student and client of both Somatic Self Psychology and Inner Relationship Focusing in 2018 that my symptoms really shifted.
With that shift came a greater capacity to connect deeply with my Self. Since then, other significant shifts have come. For example, I’m able to move through emotions, such as sadness, fear and anger with greater agility. I’ve connected more strongly with my own inner guidance system and make important life decisions with greater ease. I’ve fulfilled important life dreams that I’d made no progress on for years: Presenting a paper at a professional conference (achieved Feb 2023), living and working from France (achieved Apr – Jun 2022) and moving full time into my private practice as a Psychotherapist (achieved Aug 2021). Your journey will be different to mine, of course. But you might find it helpful to know where I’ve come from when thinking about whether or not I’d be a good fit for you.
I continue to add to my bodies of knowledge to better serve my clients. In 2020 I began studies in Gottman Method Couples Therapy with the Gottman Institute in the US. John Gottman’s 40 plus years of research in the Love Lab at the University of Washington, is unprecedented and underpins the numerous interventions that make up this body of work. Successfully completing the Level 2 training in 2022, and receiving my own relationship counselling for my personal relationship issues, along with supervision for the work I do with couples, means I can sit with couples with confidence and integrity. I never talk about it in session, but I am doing this work too.
I also keep learning how to take care of myself and adding new practices, while taking away those that get stale. For those of us with a trauma background this is especially important. We need to take care of our nervous systems in particular. To nourish and better balance my emotional states, I journal and meditate on a pretty consistent basis. I have my own personal Inner Relationship Focusing practice. As I mentioned, I have Supervision and do my own personal therapy to help me stay on track. I try to be a good partner, daughter, sister, aunt and friend and engage in hobbies that nourish me. At the moment I’m mad about cross-stich, cycling and walking. I don’t always get the balance right and that usually leaves me feeling flat and hopeless. But I usually catch it and apply some self-care to move through it more effortlessly than I did as a younger woman.
Those years were hard in many ways: unresolved depression, complicated grief, resentment and challenging relationship issues all featured. But I worked through it. If you’re interested in reading about how I healed and evolved, you can click on this link here. Now that I’m out of the swamp, I guide others in a way that both honours the therapists, teachers and guides I’ve known while adding my own special sauce.
If you’d like to read about who I work with click on this link here.
If you are tired of feeling stuck and are ready to experiment with how getting some support could help, I invite you to book in for a free 20-minute Zoom consultation. Click on the button below to access my calendar: