Areas I work with

My initial training was integrative, covering person‑centred, psychodynamic, and CBT approaches. Over time, my work has become more psychodynamic, with the other approaches woven through the work in ways that support grounding, reflection, and practical change. Being integrative means we use what fits you, your pace, your history, and what feels manageable.

Psychodynamic therapy looks at how early experiences and relationships shape the patterns you’re living with now. Many of the ways you cope or protect yourself were learned long before you had words for them. Together we explore these patterns gently, with curiosity rather than judgement, so they begin to make sense.

I’m Internal Family Systems (IFS) informed and currently part way through the official Level 1 training with the IFS Institute. Parts work helps you understand the different aspects of your inner world - the parts that criticise, shut down, manage, or carry pain. We don’t try to get rid of parts; we get curious about them. When they feel understood, they often soften on their own.

Trauma informed practice shapes the pace of the work and the way I support your nervous system. It means paying attention to safety and stability, and using grounding or practical tools when emotions feel strong. We slow down when needed, help parts feel safer before going deeper, and work in a way that keeps you connected rather than overwhelmed.

These approaches sit naturally alongside each other. Psychodynamic work helps us understand where your patterns came from. Parts work helps us understand how they operate inside you now. Trauma informed practice helps us move at a pace that feels safe. Integrative training allows us to weave these together in a way that fits you.

The aim is to help your inner world feel clearer, kinder, and more coherent.

My approach is systems literate: rather than treating symptoms in isolation, I pay attention to the patterns and relationships that shape how they arise, both within you and around you. Drawing on IFS (Internal Family Systems), I see the mind as made up of different parts, each with its own role and history, sometimes in conflict with one another. Working psychodynamically, I trace how these patterns often have their roots in early experience, particularly childhood relationships, and continue to repeat in ways that can feel automatic or hard to shift. Bringing these lenses together allows us to understand not just what's happening for you now, but why it makes sense given your history; and to work with the whole system, rather than just the presenting problem.

Whatever brings you to therapy, whether it's anxiety, low mood, difficult relationships, or feeling stuck - rarely comes out of nowhere. Often, it makes much more sense when we look at the wider picture: your relationships with parents, experiences at school, past relationships, and the story of your life so far. Together, we gently trace the threads between what's happening for you now and where those patterns first began, so things start to feel less confusing and more understandable.

I also work with the idea that we all have different "parts" of ourselves - the part that worries, the part that people pleases, the part that shuts down, each one trying to protect you in its own way, often shaped by things that happened earlier in life. Rather than trying to get rid of these parts, we get curious about them together, so you can build a kinder, more compassionate relationship with yourself. My aim is always to help you feel truly understood; not just in terms of symptoms, but as a whole person with a story that makes sense.