The short answer - I’m an integrative therapist. This means I have trained in multiple therapeutic theories and approaches, which I use to adapt to your needs – which are likely to change as we work together! This versatile approach gives us the freedom to explore, together, different issues from unique angles.

• “I believe that a different therapy must be constructed for each patient because each has a unique story.” ― Irvin Yalom

The longer answer - the two main approaches that inform my practice are person-centred counselling and psychodynamic psychotherapy. I’m also interested in the emerging research and subsequent understanding of neuroscience and brain development. This is ultimately where long standing and well practiced ‘theory’ is increasingly being supported by hard science. For example, and putting it very simply, the impact of early childhood on brain development - and our subsequent world views and understanding of self, the healing power of empathy in relationships, and of safely processing past experiences.

Person-centred counselling, also known as Rogerian therapy (after Carl Rogers) is a type of talking therapy. It comes from humanistic philosophy, which essentially believes in the inherent worth and potential of individuals, focusing on personal growth, self-awareness, freedom, and the pursuit of meaning in life. In therapy terms, it focuses on helping clients become more self-aware and independent, and is facilitated by the ‘right’ kind of therapeutic relationship. This relationship is key. The therapist's role is to listen without judgment and help the client explore their own feelings, beliefs, and worldview. 

• “In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?” ― Carl Rogers

Unconditional positive regard is a key concept here, where the therapist accepts, respects, and cares about the client, and sees them as doing the best they can in their given situation. Congruence or authenticity is another key part, where the therapist is honest and transparent about how they experience the client and the client’s world. And empathy, where the client is able to feel deeply connected with the therapist, and feels the therapist is able to see things from the client’s perspective. The goal of person-centred counselling is to enable clients to become their own therapists, and to build a trustworthy relationship where they feel free to disclose their issues. There’s absolutely no agenda to ‘fix’ the client, or ‘solve’ their issues for them. 

• “People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don't find myself saying, "Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner." I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds.” ― Carl Rogers

Person centred work is excellent at helping clients feel seen and accepted, just as they are. Something they may never have experienced before. And in time, this can be enough to enable the client to heal and grow. However, there are times when clients want to know more about themselves, or understand more about the ‘why’ of things in their life. Clients may feel that, with this understanding, they can move forward. In these situations, we might consider a psychodynamic approach.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is another type of talking therapy, and is based on the theories of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis essentially believes that unconscious conflicts, childhood experiences, and repressed emotions shape behavior, and can be explored to achieve insight and emotional healing. 

This approach helps clients understand and resolve emotional and mental health struggles by exploring their inner world and past experiences. It focuses on unconscious processes and how they manifest in a person's present behaviour, and helps people understand how their past plays out in their present. 

• "The mind is like an iceberg; it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water".  ― Sigmund Freud

A useful aspect of this approach can be to consider the relationship between the client and the therapist (i.e. you and me) as a tool for experiencing and understanding how clients relate to others in their life. A psychodynamic approach can help people understand their sense of self and their world view, and how this influences their past and present relationships. It can help clients identify and work through problems in their current relationships and explore feelings about themselves and others, especially family members.

• “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” ― Erik Erikson

I really like the quote, ‘people often end up in therapy due to other people who claim to be experts in their life’. I’m a big believer in working collaboratively with my clients; this ultimately means I’ll keep you in the loop with what I’m thinking and why I think a particular approach might be helpful. And this means you maintain the ultimate say in the relationship; you remain the expert in your life. Deciding on the most appropriate approach is a delicate balancing act, and it’s also something I discuss in supervision (see FAQ below).

The initial call is a free, no obligation, online or telephone introductory chat. It will last around 30-minutes, and allows us to become a little more familiar with each other. 

Importantly, it will give you an opportunity to ask me any questions about anything related to therapy and my practice. 

It’s also a chance for me to understand a little bit more about what you want from therapy. You might decide there are things that are particularly relevant from your past which you want to share. That might well be helpful, but remember, there is no obligation to share anything you are not comfortable with. 

Following our conversation there will be no pressure on you to book any further sessions with me. It’s so important you find a therapist who feels right for you. If you or I feel the skills of an alternative professional or service might be better suited to your needs, that is OK and I would let you know. I can also help by pointing you toward something more appropriate; I appreciate that the therapy world is a complex one to navigate. 

If you do feel that you'd like to begin working with me, we’ll book our first session at that point and go from there.

The short answer - I want you to feel enabled to tune in to what you feel you need, and for you to be able to ask for what feels right to you. So ultimately, how long and how often is up to you. The most important thing is that I feel you are committed to the process. 

The longer answer, however, is perhaps also worth considering. 

Typically, sessions last 50 minutes (aka ‘the therapy hour’) and take place at the same time each week. This is pretty standard in most talking therapies.

There's a good reason for regularity and consistency... The added value of regular sessions, held at the same time each week and for the same duration, and across multiple therapeutic approaches is well supported by research. Consistency helps the client establish a secure, reliable and predictable framework. In turn, this can help foster trust and safety, which is crucial for deeper emotional work, especially in psychodynamic therapy. 

Regular sessions can also support the formation of new habits, making it easier for clients to engage with therapy and reflect on their progress. From a neurobiological perspective, predictable routines reduce stress and promote emotional regulation. This can be especially important for clients where life is already a bit chaotic. Where this is the case, I would likely push for us to work together in a very structured way - to benefit you!

Additionally, a consistent approach to therapy can help strengthen our therapeutic relationship; it signals reliability and respect for the client's time. This predictability can help clients feel more grounded and committed to the process; i.e. you know where you stand - solid ground! 

The research (including studies on therapeutic relationships and routinely checking-in on outcomes) also shows that regular sessions are linked to better therapeutic results, with early gains more likely to be maintained over time.

However, it’s important to stress that we’re all different, and to recognise that real life is (increasingly, it seems) demanding and unpredictable. So with all that said, I still appreciate the value and importance of flexibility in our work together. 

So, we’ll talk about what feels right, likely start one way, see how it’s going after a period of time, and if needed, adjust. All’s good.

The short answer - it’s entirely up to you. I work on an open-ended basis so you can have as many or as little as you feel you need. I can help with this as well, but the decision will always be yours. It’s common for clients to start with six and go from there. I’ll make sure we check in with each other on how things are going, and this will give an opportunity to discuss any possible changes and endings. 

My slightly fuller answer to this might be, ‘how long is a piece of string?’. Principally, and I mean this with kindness and integrity, I don’t believe in ‘quick fixes’. However much society would like us to think we can buy immediate solutions to all sorts of complex issues, very rarely is this true. 

And a more full answer might be; it depends…

The type of work we’re doing and what’s going on for you will be a significant factor in how long we work together for. Short-term therapy (roughly 1-3 months) might make sense for clients dealing with more immediate and time-limited issues and for clients who need to offload or need support during that time. Pure counselling can be particularly helpful here to allow clients to feel connected with, understood, well held. In some situations, a more solutions focussed approach can also be helpful with short term work (you’ll likely have heard of CBT). 

Medium term therapy (3-9 months) is more common for clients who are dealing with slightly more complex issues such as moderate anxiety or depression, relationship or work-related issues or life transitions. Here we are much more likely to bridge the worlds of counselling with the realms of psychotherapy, and begin considering the ‘whys’ of our experiences. It’s very common for clients to work with me for around 6 months. This equates to around 24 sessions, coincidentally, one day in our life!  

My longer term clients (9+ months) still benefit from counselling skills and philosophies being at the core of our work together, but as time progresses we are increasingly joining the jots between the past and present. 

How long we work together will also be dictated by the clients’ desires. Simply put, some clients will want to end therapy as soon as they feel the presenting issue is solved, whilst others are searching for deeper understanding of themselves. This venture, by its nature, takes longer. 

Equally, some clients may just want to dip their toes into this world, experience it, learn something from it, and leave it for a while before returning. This isn’t uncommon. This can be a conscious decision, and an unconscious one. Clients can sometimes feel an issue is solved and leave after a short period, and decide later to come back with an appreciation that the issue is in fact more complex, and so they have a renewed sense of appreciation for the next lot of work, how long it might take, and what the work will involve. 

All these can, ultimately, only be decided by you, the client. And you will only figure this out as we progress together. 

Meaningful change takes time and is, to some extent, dependent on how long it takes for clients to gain insight into their own worlds and to bring change to patterns that have existed for such a long time. To illustrate, I might share with a client in week 4, ‘I’m wondering how important your dad might be in these experiences’. And the client might say at that point, ‘I don’t think so. I feel nothing about him’, only to conclude 40 weeks later, ‘I can’t believe how much I was still holding on to my dad!’. 

This isn’t uncommon, and there's a good reason why ‘how long’ our work takes is largely dictated by the client; human brains do not like change! But the good news is our brains can change, and seemingly, at any age. So there’s hope! 

But it doesn’t just take time, it also takes courage, humility and discipline (see the next question for more on these).

Ultimately, turning up each week and being on time is the foundation to giving the process a chance. And whilst that may sound obvious, it’s important not to underestimate the basics. Spending time with a therapist you feel comfortable with can be of some therapeutic benefit. But, if we want to get more from our time together, you will really benefit from being able to draw on your capacity for healthy courage, humility and discipline. 

Clients need courage in the first place, to step forward and ask for help; that’s for sure. And I applaud anyone who’s brave enough to accept it’s time to ask for help. Clients will also call on their courage as we get further into the work together, especially when clients are faced with the fear of the unknown; the uncertainty that comes with making changes in their lives that are connected to deep, underlying issues (especially when it’s connected to someone’s sense of self). This is the case even when those changes clearly lead to better outcomes. 

• “Every person must choose how much truth they can stand.” ― Irvin Yalom

Don’t underestimate how scary this can be! But remember, whilst only you can ultimately make those steps, I’ll be there by your side. 

Humility - this is a slightly strange one, as clients so often arrive showing a little too much humility if anything (i.e. the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance) and so my job in these instances can be to help turn the dial up and give you a boost in self-esteem. This can be especially true with grief.

But when it comes to stuckness and change, humility can behave in more complex ways. Even when it seems a client’s humility dial is turned right down (i.e. a client with the narrative ‘I’m not important’), the client cannot move forward until they consider their role in what it is they’re experiencing (i.e. what could the narrative ‘I’m not important’ be doing for the client? Why might the client be unwilling to let go of this?). In this very simple illustration, you can see where a client has a very important role in their capacity for change. Whether they are able to recognise this, and have the courage to make the change, this is the work. 

• “We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.” ― Carl Jung

What I’m really talking about here is the humility required for a client to be able to take responsibility for their part in the change process. This is especially true where clients are having issues with repeating experiences, for example in relationships, family, work, etc. It’s very common (and easy/preferable) to point the finger at others who need to change; ‘they’re the problem’. Whilst there’s often some truth in this (other people can and do make life more complicated) we ultimately cannot control other people, nor is that the work we’re here to do. Therefore, in time, we have to look more closely at you; helping you be, do and have what you need that is within your control. Counselling and psychotherapy is fundamentally all about YOU, and it takes real humility to accept our role in the situations we are struggling with. But once we do, the opportunities and potential for change and growth are so powerful. 

Discipline is more straightforward, but no less important in the therapeutic process. The simplest comparison I can give here is with exercise. In many ways, therapy is like pushing our muscles in the gym to new feats of strength; we work them, push them, stretch them, and if we leave the gym session feeling like we’ve worked hard, we can be satisfied. We’ll probably be feeling a little sore afterwards as well! With exercise, that’s to be expected, and it tells us something’s happening! However, you don’t get stronger in the gym. It’s the rest and recovery in between that ensures muscles can grow; it’s the discipline to get enough sleep, to give yourself the right fuel and to look after your body. And our sessions are no different in reality. 

We spend the best part of an hour each week challenging ourselves, allowing the brain (also a muscle!) to experience new things; new feelings, new perspectives, new ways of thinking and being. The good news is, that in itself will help! But, whilst having the discipline to turn up to sessions regularly is crucial, it’s also important for maintaining consistency between sessions. This might involve practicing new coping strategies, journaling, or reflecting on insights gained in sessions. Change often requires sustained effort, and discipline helps clients stay committed to their growth.

Short answer - yes, but there are limitations. 

I believe that upholding client confidentiality makes my profession very special; it is the cornerstone of our work. It is essential to build trust, to create emotional safety, and to promote openness. Knowing that your personal information will remain private means you’re likely to share sensitive thoughts, feelings, and experiences without fear of judgment or consequences. This openness is crucial for effective therapy; it allows me to fully understand your concerns and work with you to address their needs.

With that said, and to ensure open exploration of the concerns that you have, I will maintain confidentiality in accordance with the BACP’s ethical framework for good practice at all times.

All counsellors and supervisors are required to have clinical supervision. This is where I discuss my client work with a more experienced therapist to ensure I am being as effective in my practice as possible, and it ensures that you and I are both safe. Therefore, in this professional and therapeutic context, I would discuss details of our work. However, supervisors also act in accordance with professional ethical frameworks. 

There are certain limitations to confidentiality. ​These are when there is evidence that a client may:

1. Threaten harm to yourself or to another person.

2. If the courts instruct that I give information. 

3. If you, the client share information about a proposed act of terrorism or other specific illegal acts. 

In these instances, I would work with you to ensure the process is transparent and fair.

As mentioned before, all counsellors and supervisors are required to have clinical supervision where client work is discussed with a more experienced therapist. This ensures your therapist can be as effective in their practice as possible. In accordance with the BACP’s ethical framework, I have regular supervision. This process gives me the support and guidance I need to be as effective for you as I can be.

As of November 2024, £70 per session. 

As of December 2024, these slots are currently reserved. 

I currently volunteer for a local hospice and for Dorset Mind, and also offer a few slots each week at a lower rate for those on lower incomes. Please indicate in your email to me or during our initial call if you require access to this and we can discuss various options.

If I am not available immediately, I can also point you toward low-cost counselling services, should this be of interest to you. Low-cost counselling organisations often have trainee counsellors on placements. This means the organisations can usually offer a great variety of counselling models and may have much shorter waiting lists. Trainees don’t just mean a lower fee, they also have more supervision hours relative to the number of clients they see, and so often will be well prepared for each client session. These are all good things for clients! 

A note on costs - everyone’s budget is unique, so of course it’s important to find something that feels comfortable wherever you decide to go. It’s no surprise that clients who have positive experiences with therapy place a higher value on it. These clients see the expense of weekly therapy as a worthwhile investment in themselves and, consequently, one they take more seriously. In turn, how seriously a client is taking their therapy can often be reflected by their efforts in between sessions, and this can be the greatest determining factor in a client’s progress. The opposite can also be true, so finding something that feels right for your budget, matters a lot. 

It goes without saying, this is also why it’s important that we have a chance to meet first; to touch on what’s going on for you, what you’re looking for, and whether I’m the right therapist for you. If I’m not, I’d be happy to signpost you towards someone better suited; I’m aware the therapy world is a hard one to navigate with SO much industry jargon, so I’m happy to help you traverse that terrain.

If you decide to start therapy with me, I will send you a written agreement capturing the key points we discuss (and many of the key points covered in these FAQs) in writing. The agreement will also contain my bank details. 

I ask that payments are made before each session. Equally, some clients prefer to pay for multiple sessions at a time. Either is appreciated.

If canceling a session, I ask for 48 hours notice. Because I keep my client numbers low, I can sometimes offer alternative days/times at shorter notice. However, if an agreed booking is cancelled within 48 hours and I am unable to find you another slot that week, the session will still need to be paid for. 

Should the need to cancel or late rescheduling of sessions become a regular occurrence, I would discuss with you whether this is the right time for you to commit to therapy, and invite us to consider whether we continue to work in the meantime.