“Entering analysis a person will never be the same again. He will have found a new object for self transformation and there is nothing like it”. - Christopher Bollas
What is therapy?
Everyone experiences emotional problems at some stage in life, and sometimes life can feel too much. At these times, you might start to think about seeking help. Current issues easily stir up feelings from the past of which we are not always consciously aware and which get in the way of us living fulfilled lives.
For planned short-term therapy (say, 6-18 sessions), we can focus on a particular problem or stage in life, for instance, feeling unhappy, a bereavement or loss, problems at work, wanting a serious conversation with your partner/family member/friend, or you might feel stuck in a rut and not see how to make changes and move forward. In longer-term psychotherapy, we can work together more deeply, exploring ongoing patterns of behaving and relating to yourself and others.
Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic therapy aims to assist you in exploring, experiencing, unravelling and understanding your true, deep-rooted feelings in order to resolve them. During the therapy, we will also explore some of your earlier life relationships and experiences. It can be difficult to understand how early experiences can affect you later in life, but these can affect us a great deal in terms of how we relate to others and ourselves.
The first step - what can I expect?
It's completely natural to feel apprehensive and anxious when seeking therapy; it can be daunting, but it is the first step.
Please contact me by phone or email and we can arrange a mutually convenient time for an initial consultation, where we can discuss what's troubling you now and the wider picture of your life.
This initial meeting will give you an idea of what it is like to sit with me as a therapist. It carries no obligation to commit, deciding the best therapy for you will require some thought and the initial session will help us with that.
The fee for this initial session is £85 (St Albans) £100 (West Hampstead). Occasionally a second consultation may be necessary. If we decide to meet on an ongoing basis, we will discuss the ongoing fee and logistics.
What happens next?
If we agree to work together, we'll schedule a 50-minute session on a specific day and time at least once a week.
Once we decide to have ongoing sessions, what we discuss and explore is entirely up to you. I feel I am most effective when I can help others to speak freely about anything that comes to mind, listen to themselves, and discover their own inner truths through the therapeutic process.
You will have the freedom to explore and reflect on all aspects of your life, from some of your earlier life relationships and experiences to current events in your adult life.
Understanding the connection between the past and present can be helpful for gaining new insights and making changes.
