How I work
Every therapist works differently. This is a little glimpse into how I tend to think, practise, and the kind of things that shape how we work together
There isn't one right way to do therapy
Sometimes we look backwards to understand today
We'll keep deciding together
I like seeing the whole picture
Sometimes words arent's enough
A few things you probably won't find here...
There isn't one right way to do therapy
How I decide what might be most helpful – and why therapy with me doesn't follow a script
People often ask what integrative counselling actually means.
For me, it isn't about collecting lots of techniques and choosing one at random. It isn't about having a favourite approach that I use with everyone either.
It's about recognising that people are wonderfully, frustratingly, beautifully different.
The same approach can feel life-changing for one person, unhelpful for another, and even for the same person it might be exactly what's needed at one point in therapy but not at another.
That's why I work pluralistically.
I believe different ways of working can become helpful at different moments, with different people, for different reasons. Rather than asking "Which approach is best?", I'm asking:
"What seems most helpful for you, right now?"
That question quietly guides almost every decision I make.
What is happening beneath the surface?
While we're talking, I'm rarely thinking,
"Which technique should I use?"
Instead, I'm holding different perspectives in mind at the same time.
I might be wondering...
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Is there something important happening between us in this moment?
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Does this feeling belong only to today, or does it feel much older?
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Is your body telling us something before words have caught up?
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Would staying with this feeling be more helpful than analysing it?
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Would a metaphor, image or creative exercise help us understand something that words can't quite reach?
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Are there patterns in relationships, family, culture, identity or your environment that are shaping this experience?
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Would a practical strategy help here, or would it take us away from something more important?
You don't need to answer those questions.
They're part of the thinking quietly happening in the background while we work together.
Therapy is something we create together
I work relationally.
That means therapy isn't something I simply do to you.
It's something we build together.
I don't arrive with a hidden agenda or a rehearsed plan for how the session should unfold. Every conversation is shaped by what happens between us.
Sometimes I'll ask a question.
Sometimes I'll simply sit with you in silence.
Sometimes I'll gently challenge something you've said.
Sometimes I'll suggest drawing, using metaphor, mapping something out on paper or experimenting with a different way of looking at a situation.
Every response you give changes what I'm thinking.
Every session teaches me something new about you.
I don’t rehearse the session in advance or arrive with a hidden plan. I respond to what is happening between us, moment by moment. There is a continuous back-and-forth: noticing, checking, wondering, adjusting.
You are allowed to tell me when something helps.
You are also allowed to tell me when it doesn’t.
Different lenses, one conversation
My work is informed by several evidence-based approaches, including:
✦ Person-centred counselling
✦ Pluralistic practice
✦ Gestalt
✦ Psychodynamic thinking
✦ CBT-informed approaches
✦ Systemic thinking
✦ Trauma-informed practice
✦ Creative, embodied and metaphor-based ways of working
I don't see these as competing theories.
I see them as different lenses that help us understand human experience.
Sometimes one lens brings something into focus. Sometimes another does. Sometimes several seem equally relevant, and we stay curious rather than rushing to one neat explanation.
My role isn't to fit you into a model.
It's to understand you well enough to decide, together, what might genuinely be helpful.
Evidence, curiosity and flexibility
Everything I draw on is grounded in established therapeutic theory, research and professional training.
Where there is good evidence that a particular way of working may be helpful, I'm happy to bring it into our conversations. That might include practical tools, mapping patterns together, exploring thoughts and behaviours, or experimenting with new ways of responding.
The difference is that these are never used simply because a model says they should be.
They become possibilities that we explore together, if they make sense for you.
At the heart of it all...
Every person brings a different story.
Different experiences.
Different strengths.
Different ways of making sense of the world.
It makes sense to me that therapy should be just as individual.
Evidence-based ✦ Integrative ✦ Pluralistic ✦ Relational ✦ Creative ✦ Embodied ✦ Metaphor-friendly
I like seeing the whole picture
Looking beyond symptoms to understand the person, the context and the story.
When we are struggling, it's easy to start seeing ourselves as the problem.
Therapy can accidentally reinforce that by focusing only on symptoms, diagnoses or behaviours.
I prefer to begin somewhere else.
Instead of asking,
"What's wrong with you?"
I'm often wondering...
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What has happened to you?
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What matters most to you?
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What has helped you survive?
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What strengths have carried you this far?
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What are you already doing that deserves to be noticed?
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What feels missing?
Those questions lead us somewhere very different.
Every part of you tells part of the story
I'm interested in your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, values, identity, culture, environment and life experiences.
Not because I want to analyse every part of you.
But because each of them holds another piece of the picture.
Sometimes what looks confusing today makes perfect sense when we understand where it came from.
Sometimes a way of coping that once helped us survive no longer fits the life we're living now.
Rather than judging those responses, I'd rather understand them first.
Your responses make sense in context
Many of the ways we protect ourselves began for a reason.
Our minds, bodies and nervous systems are remarkably creative at helping us survive difficult situations.
Sometimes those ways continue long after the danger has passed.
Together we can become curious about them.
Not with the aim of getting rid of parts of you...
...but with the hope of understanding what they're trying to do, and whether there might now be gentler or more helpful ways forward.
Your story doesn't exist in a vacuum
None of us grows up outside relationships, families, communities or society.
Our identities, culture, gender, neurotype, sexuality, race, disability, faith, class and lived experiences all shape how we move through the world.
Some parts of our identity bring ease.
Others may bring misunderstanding, exclusion or expectations that quietly affect our wellbeing.
These wider contexts matter.
Not because I want to reduce you to labels.
But because they help us understand the world you've had to navigate—and the strengths you've developed along the way.
I don't believe everything needs a quick explanation
Life is often more complicated than that.
Sometimes we'll find clear patterns.
Sometimes we'll discover several possible explanations.
Sometimes we'll simply stay with uncertainty for a while.
I'd rather stay curious than rush towards an answer that doesn't quite fit.
Because understanding usually grows through patience, not speed.
The whole picture matters
When we understand the whole landscape—not just one small corner of it—new possibilities often begin to appear.
That's why I don't just see a problem.
I see a person.
Holistic • Strengths-based • Trauma-informed • Neuroaffirming • Intersectional • Culturally aware • Embodied • Relational • Systemic thinking
Sometimes we look backwards to understand today
Sometimes we’ll stay with what is happening in your life now.
Sometimes we’ll notice that the roots reach further back — into childhood, important relationships, attachment, where certain beliefs, patterns or ways of coping first began.
And sometimes we’ll look ahead: towards what you want, what might feel different, or the life you are trying to move towards.
We do not begin in the past and work forward in a neat line. We move between past, present and future all the time — looking backwards to understand today, bringing old experiences into the present, and anchoring future possibilities in what can happen now.
I sometimes draw on ideas from inner-child work and parts work to help make sense of these experiences.
We will not explore the past simply because therapy is “supposed to.” We go there when it helps you understand yourself and live more freely now.
Childhood experiences ✦ Attachment ✦ Recurring patterns ✦ Inner-child work ✦ Parts work ✦ Past, present and future
Sometimes words aren't enough
Talking can be wonderfully powerful.
Sometimes, though, an experience feels too painful, too tangled or too difficult to approach directly.
We do not always have to begin by describing it clearly.
A metaphor, image, object, drawing or movement can give us another way in — one that feels safer and less exposed. It can help you explore something without having to name every detail before you are ready.
Creative approaches can also be useful when thinking and analysing have taken you as far as they can. Sometimes approaching something sideways helps us notice what direct questions cannot reach.
We might use imagery, metaphor, drawing, objects, movement or simply pay attention to what is happening in your body.
You do not have to think of yourself as creative.
These are simply different ways of noticing, expressing and making sense of experience.
Metaphor ✦ Imagery ✦ Drawing ✦ Movement ✦ Embodied awareness
Explore the creative approaches I sometimes use →
We’ll keep deciding together
When we begin, I may not be able to tell you exactly how many sessions you will need.
Sometimes one particular difficulty begins to shift quite quickly. Other times, several things are tangled together and need more time and space.
Therapy with me can be short-term or open-ended. You might come for a few sessions, work weekly for longer, pause when something has settled, return later, or eventually move to less frequent sessions if that suits you.
You are not committing to six sessions, or to therapy forever.
Every six sessions, we pause and talk about how the work is feeling. We might notice what has changed, what still needs attention, whether our focus has shifted, or whether something is not helping in the way we hoped.
Then we decide together what makes sense next: continue, change direction, meet less often, pause, or bring the work to an ending. Therapy should continue for as long as it feels useful — not because you are expected to stay.
My aim is for therapy to become something you feel able to manage without. Part of my responsibility is to keep noticing whether our work is helping you build more choice, confidence and trust in yourself.
Short-term · Open-ended · Regular reviews · Flexible frequency · Planned endings · Returning later
A few things you probably won't find here...
You won't be expected to have the perfect words.
You won't be rushed into talking before you're ready.
You won't be reduced to a diagnosis or label.
Labels can be deeply validating and meaningful, and if they're important to you, they're important to me. But I won't assume a label tells me who you are. I'd much rather get to know the person behind it.
You probably won't be given homework every week, either. Sometimes you may leave with something to notice or reflect on, but therapy isn't another task to complete.
I won’t rush to turn a complicated experience into a neat explanation. Sometimes several things are tangled together, and I’d rather understand the knot with you than pull at the first visible thread.
We might work well together if…
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you are curious about what sits underneath the problem
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several parts of life feel tangled together
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you understand yourself intellectually but still feel stuck
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you want more than symptom management
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you value depth, curiosity and making connections
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you want to work deeply without assuming therapy must continue forever
I may not be the best fit if…
You are mainly looking for a highly structured, technique-led programme focused only on reducing one symptom as quickly as possible.