Frequently asked questions

I can help you with pretty much anything to do with body and mind!

Therapy with me can help with all kinds of mental health issues such as anxiety or depressive disorders, it can help reduce phobias and addictions, get rid of unhealthy habits, encourage good ones, relieve chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, and reduce issues health issues such as IBS. It’s particularly good at helping you develop healthier sleep patterns and reducing stress levels.

I have a general overview of other kinds of issues I work on here, but really the list is endless. Feel free to contact me if you have a specific issue you’d like my help with. I’m always happy to answer your queries.

In some cases, yes. I can help you with a variety of mental health and wellbeing issues concurrently. If you are looking for help with more than one specific goal (eg to cure a phobia and to lose weight) then I would look at helping with one goal at a time.

You can read about this in detail here and here

Each session lasts for roughly an hour.

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Everyone makes change at their own pace, and the duration of therapy will differ according to what we’re working on. Generally speaking, results become apparent fairly quickly with most people seeing a change after the first one or two sessions.

On average I’d expect to see someone for between 8-12 sessions (except for my 3 session phobia treatment). For some people it might be a bit less, and for others a few more, depending on what we’re helping you with.

Some of my clients feel better after a series of sessions but choose to come back to me periodically for a top-up, once a month, or every few months for a couple of weeks, just to keep things fresh in their minds. I’m happy to work flexibly with you based on what works well for you.

Before starting therapy, I provide a free consultation during which I discuss your specific goals, and explain in more detail about how our brains and bodies work, and how solution-focused therapy uses these mechanisms to make the positive changes you’re looking for.

From this point we meet up regularly (usually once a week) for hourly sessions. We work together on some psychotherapy initially. We will be led by what’s going on each session, so we may continue on for the full session, or I may incorporate some other elements, either using hypnotherapy, or working with you on some somatic exercises which you will then be able to use at home to help yourself combat stress, depression or anxiety – these will help you to stay calm, be engaged, and feel  comfortable.

This combination of talking therapy followed by these other helpful techniques helps your brain to recalibrate, developing new, healthier templates for thoughts and behavioural responses. Results are noticeable fairly quickly, and you can expect to end each session feeling relaxed, positive, and motivated, as you go about the rest of your week.

Yes. Everything is 100% confidential. It is important that you feel that you are able to talk freely and openly, so anything that is said during a session will be strictly private.

In a nutshell, it’s a form of therapy based around neuroscience. I have a goal-orientated approach, combining psychotherapeutic techniques used in cognitive behavioural therapy, neuro-linguistic programming, and humanistic counselling, combined with solution-focused hypnotherapy. Using these tools I help my clients to work towards making changes to improve their mental health, well-being and behaviour in a positive, constructive and permanent way. Click here to find out more.

The word somatic means ‘affecting the body’. Somatic therapy focuses on countering the impact that trauma and stress have on the body.

When you have experienced trauma, or when you have experienced periods of chronic stress and mental health struggles, the trauma response becomes embedded in your physiology. It impacts the autonomic nervous system which triggers physiological responses and creates maladaptive default settings of how the systems in your body behaves.

I use my knowledge of the physiology of trauma and stress to work on repairing the physical effects of trauma and stress through self-touch exercises, gentle movements and stretches, and breathing exercises to stimulate healing and repair.

We often think of our mental health as a purely psychological issue, but our brains and bodies work together as a fairly fragile ecosystem where the body informs the mind just as much as the mind informs the body.

When you have trauma or stress stored in the body, your nervous system can trigger your brains to go into survival mode. Somatic therapy addresses this ‘bottom up’ processing and facilitates your body’s ability to re-learn more helpful responses.

That really depends on what we are working on and why we are choosing to use somatics during our session. Exercises range from self soothing techniques, to vagal nerve stimulation and self-massage of face and neck, to gentle, simple yoga stretches, as well as breathing exercises to help stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system.

Not especially. I tailor these exercises to suit each individual client, which means we can work in a way that is best suited to you personally, and we can choose what you do based around your personal level of ability or restriction.

Hypnotherapy can work on anyone, as long as you are open to it. People trying hypnotherapy for the first time as part of solution-focused therapy describe being pleasantly surprised at how good it feels, and how much it helps them.

It feels a bit like you’re daydreaming. You know exactly where you are and what’s going on, but your mind feels like it’s wandering a bit. Going into a ‘trance’ state is actually something we all do multiple times a day – when we’re driving, going for a run, hanging out the laundry, or watching TV – it’s the point at which your mind is relaxed and wanders away from any immediate focus. I’ve had many clients tell me after our hypnotherapy sessions that they feel like they’ve just had a massage! It leaves you feeling relaxed, revitalised, calm and content.

Absolutely. As opposed to what your average stage ‘hypnotist’ might have you believe, during true hypnosis you will begin to feel very relaxed and calm, and will simply rest and drift into a sort of daydreamy state whilst I talk to you. You will have complete control of your own body and mind throughout the process. There is no hint of mind control, or clucking like a chicken… Don’t believe everything you see on stage!

I use the Solution-Focused approach as a scaffold within which I use a combination of techniques that help you develop more robust and resilient mental health.

Using what I know about the neuroscience and physiology of mental health, we will also begin to look at different aspects of your thought processes and behaviours.

We will work towards small achievable goals, step by step, to get you where you want to be. During sessions we will explore your thoughts and feelings in more depth, understanding your values and the changes you’d like to make.

 At times we might stop to unpick certain blocks that might be contributing to your discomfort in order to move beyond them, and then return our focus back to your goals, and help you discover skills that allow you to understand and accept your feelings and work with them to regain your mental equilibrium, de-fuse yourself from any unhelpful thoughts you are having, and develop a more enjoyable sense of being present in the moment, and general mindfulness and gratitude of what’s good in your life right now.

I also utilise my knowledge of the interactions between mental health and the nervous system and apply somatic techniques and breathwork to stimulate the ‘rest and digest’ response in body and mind, allowing you to feel safe and connect with the people and environment around you.

This weaves together and forms this really lovely, safe platform for self-discovery and psychological flexibility, which is pretty much the key to unlocking your best self, keeping your stress levels low, and keeping you operating from your intellectual, problem-solving, positive neocortex.

Yes, that’s absolutely fine. Solution-Focused therapy complements many other forms of therapy, and it actually enhances the effects of anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication. These work by keeping the pleasure receptors in your brain open for longer to allow them to receive more of the happiness chemical, serotonin.

Hypnotherapy and Somatic therapy significantly help your body to create more serotonin.

Yes! From the age of 7-8 most children are receptive to it, and it has been found to be really helpful when working with children struggling with anxiety or depression.

It’s safe, and it can be extremely beneficial, especially as it is goal driven, and does not require us to delve in past experiences of trauma and distress. This means that it is a very gentle, positive form of therapy, which works very well with children and young people.

I have a 24-hour cancellation policy. In the event that you need to amend the date and /or time of your next appointment I will always do my best to accommodate changes, but if I’m unable to reschedule you within the same week, the cancellation policy also will also apply in this instance.

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