Therapy Frequently Asked Questions

If you are here, looking at our counselling and psychotherapy services, that tells you everything you need to know. Everyone needs help from time-to-time. I can help. No matter what you are dealing with, please feel free to reach out and have a free 15-minute chat with me, so that you can feel confident that by working together with me, I can help you.

Initially, I will learn about what has bought you to therapy. From then, all sessions can look a little different, but will all always be led by what feels right to you. We can talk, I can help you to sense into your body’s knowing about the best next steps for you, we can learn and practice skills to manage ruminating thoughts and overwhelming feelings. We can also learn basic nervous system regulation skills and aim to build your nervous system capacity and resilience. Basically, I draw on my knowledge and practice, based on what brings you to therapy and what we both feel will help you to move forward.

That is up to you. We can work together short or long term to achieve your goals. There are also skills we will embark on together to enhance your outcomes. Ultimately, we are all so unique that it is hard to know where the journey will take us. My goal is always to serve you as best as I can, in as short a time-frame as I can.

ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is a form of mindful therapy. It’s approach helps us to stay present in the moment and to make space for our thoughts, feelings and sensations, rather than engaging in a struggle with them. It helps us to define what we value and what is meaningful to us, and then to make steps towards living that rich and meaningful life we desire.

Somatic therapies are body-oriented approaches to therapy. Some call these bottom-up approaches, and instead of focusing on our thinking, like talk therapy does, it pays attention to the body’s experience, needs and communication with us. This may include noticing the sensations and emotions in our bodies, moving our bodies and releasing held tensions, traumas and memories if needed. In therapy with me, we mostly use our attention and self- touch to work with the body, and as always, you are in charge and can choose what feels right to you.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) uses bilateral stimulation, usually either watching a moving object, or tapping on your own opposite shoulders (butterfly tap) as a way of assisting your brain to integrate or reprocess trauma that is triggering you in the present moment. The goal is to take the distressing memory from a place of ‘there and then,’ to a place of ‘here and now.’ This way, the memory is in the past and is not triggering us in the present. By incorporating Somatic therapies into the traditional EMDR protocol, we are able to work gently and at your body’s pace.

Focusing teaches us to notice how we feel and then listen. It is a body-based practice of developing an inner self-awareness and as a result an emotional healing. At Holding the Space, we work from a Focusing-Oriented perspective in our counselling sessions (along with other therapeutic modalities). This means that we hold the space for you to get in touch with what your body knows about the whole of your situation. I will guide you in this gentle and easy process.

Anxiety is a ‘whole self’ experience that essentially comes from our brain and nervous system being in a Sympathetic Nervous system state when no ‘real’ threat is present. It can manifest as ruminating or catastrophising thoughts and worries, unpleasant physical sensations in our body, or a feeling like we want to run away from ourselves or fight our experience. We may also avoid or fear social situations or activities that feel overwhelming to us. Anxiety tends to make our lives harder and smaller, as we try to manage both the outside world and our inner experience so that we can feel better.

I mainly see clients experiencing anxiety and anxiety-related conditions such as; social or relational-issues, stress management, anxiety from health conditions or sensory distortions and depression. I encourage you to reach out and book a 15-minute exploratory session if you resonate with me, my therapeutic approach or my holistic recovery view and we can discuss whether we are a good fit to work together.

What if I have anxiety along with other concerns, can we still work together?

Yes, we definitely can.