About You
We all come to therapy for different reasons. You might recognise yourself in one (or more) of these.
Crisis
Something's come to a head— a crisis, a relationship difficulty, a pattern you can no longer ignore. Something feels stuck, painful, or urgent. You want clarity, relief, or change.
We would start by creating enough steadiness to think and feel at the same time. Rather than rushing to fix what feels urgent, we would become curious about what has reached its limit and what it may be revealing. Alongside untangling the immediate difficulty, we would seek to make meaning of what has come about, as crises often illuminate deeper patterns. Approached with care, moments of crisis can become turning points.
Peaks and troughs
You live with emotional intensity. This may mean feeling things deeply and quickly, particularly in relationships. Or it may mean withdrawal, dissociation, or numbness. Alongside this, you struggle with fear of abandonment, shame, impulsivity, or rapid shifts in mood. Perhaps you've received a diagnosis, such as borderline personality disorder. Or perhaps you simply know that your inner world can feel difficult to steady.
We would approach your experience with acceptance and curiosity, understanding it as an adaptive response shaped by your history — whether it shows up as intensity, numbness, or withdrawal. Part of our work might involve building greater emotional regulation and a steadier internal base. We might find Dialectical Behaviour Therapy helpful here. We would also notice what happens between us, as patterns of overwhelm or distance often emerge in relationship. The aim is not to blunt your sensitivity or to force feeling, but to help you feel more steady, secure, and present within yourself.
Unsettled, restless, discontented
You're reluctant to call it a 'problem', but you've a quiet sense that life feels smaller than it could be. You function well enough, yet feel disconnected, dissatisfied, or not fully yourself. Perhaps you feel anxious. You want more depth, more aliveness, more choice. You yearn for something.
Yearning often signals unlived parts of the psyche. Our work might involve exploring questions of meaning, identity, and choice — reflecting on what feels inherited and what feels truly yours. We might clarify values, examine the assumptions you live by, and consider what kind of life you want to be authoring now. We might explore avoided choices or imagine different futures. We might face and contend with regret for the road untravelled. We would attend to the body’s experience of aliveness or constriction, and listen for what the unconscious is expressing through patterns or images.
Trauma
You may be carrying the imprint of early trauma — neglect, abuse, inconsistency — and notice how it shapes your nervous system, your relationships, or your sense of identity.
We would move at a pace that feels steady and safe, building enough support for your nervous system before approaching what feels painful. Here, we might draw on body-based and parts-informed trauma approaches, and would work gently with how early experiences became embedded — not only in memory, but in your body, your relationships, and your sense of self. The aim is not to erase the past, but to help you live with greater integration and choice.
Heartbreak
The end of a relationship. The death of someone important. The loss of a life you imagined. Grief doesn't move in straight lines. It can bring waves of longing, anger, numbness, or disbelief. There is a need to mourn what has been lost, and to slowly rediscover steadiness in its absence.
We would not try to hurry your grief. Loss has its own pace, and its own rhythm. Instead, we would give it room — for the waves, the contradictions, the silence. Over time, the work becomes one of integrating the loss into your story, so that love and memory can remain — and life can begin to move in a new way.
Curiosity
That most human of drives: you're just curious. A random podcast that stays with you. A recurring dream. A pattern keeps repeating. It's enough to just want to know more, to have more of yourself: more awareness, depth, freedom in how you live and relate to yourself and to others.
We would let your curiosity lead us. The idea that lingers, the thought that won't settle, the thing that moves you- often these are invitations rather than problems, signals from parts of you that are not yet fully conscious. Always, in therapy, the work is to listen to what the unconscious may be expressing. As our understanding deepens, you may find more of yourself becoming available to you — and with that, greater fullness and freedom in how you live and relate.