Counselling is generally considered a relatively short-term option where a specific problem may be looked at over a period of a few weeks or a few months. This might be a problem at work, an unexpected response to a crisis, a one-off relationship difficulty or a recent bereavement.

Good enough relationships with our earliest caregivers are crucial to secure human growth and development throughout life. If as children we were not cherished, kept safe, secure, listened to and supported we may feel ill at ease with ourselves, others and life. Often, we may have repressed difficult feelings, simply to get by.

Psychotherapy provides a secure environment and an opportunity to look at what might have been buried and never acknowledged. It offers you the possibility of making sense of unsuccessful behaviour patterns such as sleeping problems, unhappy relationships, addictions, a sense of meaningless in life, chronic difficulties such as mood swings, destructive relationship patterns, drug and alcohol misuse or problems with food. It can help you cope with depression, concerns about your capacity to parent, bereavement, eating problems, phobias and obsessions, self-harm, addictions, anxiety, abuse or trauma, identity confusion, relationship breakdown and feeling lonely and abandoned.

In psychotherapy you work with your psychotherapist to reflect on your past and present relationships  to work through your emotional distress. This makes it possible to become more aware of the conflicts underlying your emotions and your actions; and to look more clearly and productively at yourself and your relationships with others in the present.

Psychotherapy is sometimes known as the ‘talking cure’. It actually means ‘Healing of the Soul’. It aims  to help you understand your feelings and how you think. Psychotherapy is not about the psychotherapist giving advice, but through getting to know you, helping you work out how you might want things to be different and to create that change. Another way of looking at it is to see therapy as a journey, which you undertake jointly with your therapist. The journey is yours; the therapist is your witness and companion. What emerges on this path depends on your life history and your willingness to make sense of it all.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is an ongoing process which works at a deep level and aims to bring about lasting change in personality and emotional life. It can therefore be a transformational experience for you emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. It is usually a long-term commitment. People attracted to psychoanalytic psychotherapy are often those who want to understand themselves and who desire to begin a journey of self-discovery, as well as finding ways to heal their emotional suffering. ​​

The aim of psychotherapy is to enable you to share important experiences of your life. When you talk about feelings and thoughts, which you have not been able to express before, this can bring a sense of relief. Knowing that you will have a regular, confidential and safe space can ease the sense of being on your own and help you to develop the capacity to create change in your life.

In an initial consultation you can talk about the issues that concern you and ask any questions that you may have about psychotherapy. You will then be able to consider what would be an appropriate course to follow and decide if psychotherapy is the right course of action for you at this point in your life. Fees are discussed and agreed on. Therapy usually takes place once a week (sometimes twice a week) at agreed times and on a regular basis. The content of the sessions is confidential unless there is concern that you may harm yourself or others. Sessions are generally held at the same time each week and last fifty minutes.