FAQs

This is a very common and understandable question that I often hear in my practice. – In short the answer is yes, by working together.

It’s understandable that you may feel stuck and hopeless and possibly believe things will never get better. However, this is rarely true. A safe and trusting therapeutic relationship can allow you to feel hopeful once again. Therapy will necessitate that we both work hard. I will need to provide you with an accurate understanding (formulation) of how your difficulties developed and what we can do to help you tackle them. Once we agree on this formulation of your difficulties, we can decide what techniques and modes of therapy we will use to help you reach your goals. Therapy is not magic and will necessitate work on your part too. You will need to be active in the process of change during and between sessions- instigating the changes we discuss in our sessions. However, I will be there to support you along the way and help you through any difficulties you may encounter. As the adage says, nothing ventured- nothing gained. Working together we should be able to instigate useful, valuable and long lasted changes.

During our assessment we will formulate (make sense of) your difficulties, how they originated and what is keeping things from changing or improving for you. Often, more than one type of therapy can be effective in treating a problem, but it is important to match the therapy I provide- to you the client. Deciding together what would be the best therapy to help you with your difficulties will be part of our initial assessment and formulation session. I can be very clear about what our options are for tackling your difficulties and we can work together to decide which approaches resonates with and feels more comfortable for you.

Like many professionals I have developed the capability to provide services online. I have become very adept and comfortable with online therapy and have experience of helping others not only come to grips with the technology but feel comfortable with the experience. Should we need to lockdown again, I will help you make the transition to online sessions.

Ambivalence about tackling psychological difficulties is extremely common and understandable. Committing yourself to therapy requires a lot of work. During our assessment we can explore how ready you are to tackle these problems. I have years of experience of helping individuals harness the motivation they need to engage in therapy. However, it may be that we decide this isn’t the right time for you. Should you decide after our initial appointment that this is the case for you, you will at least have a deeper understanding of your difficulties and what might be maintaining them. You should also leave with a clearer idea of when you might be ready to tackle them or what you might need to do to prepare yourself for this.