I offer individual psychotherapy and counselling for adults from my practice in Dalston, East London, as well as online.
People come to therapy for many different reasons. You may be struggling with low self-esteem or self-doubt, finding yourself caught in patterns of people pleasing or procrastination, or living with a strong inner critic that makes it difficult to feel good enough.
Perhaps relationships have become difficult, you feel stuck in an area of your life, or you have reached a point where you are questioning who you are, what you want or what gives your life meaning.
Sometimes there is no single problem. You may simply have a sense that something needs to change.
How psychotherapy can help
Psychotherapy offers a space to explore your experience with another person in a way that can be difficult to do alone.
We can become curious about the patterns that repeat in your life, the ways you relate to yourself and others, and how experiences from your past may continue to influence you in the present.
Sometimes we know intellectually why we behave in a particular way and still find ourselves doing it.
One part of you may want change while another seems to resist it. You may want to feel more confident while simultaneously being highly self-critical. You may want greater closeness in relationships while finding yourself withdrawing or protecting yourself when intimacy feels risky. You may know what you want to do but repeatedly procrastinate when you try to do it.
Therapy can help us understand these apparent contradictions with curiosity rather than judgement.
As greater awareness develops, there can be more possibility for choice — rather than automatically repeating ways of thinking, relating and behaving that may once have served an important purpose but no longer fit the life you want to live.
Issues I work with
The difficulties people bring to therapy rarely fit neatly into separate categories. Low self-esteem may be connected with people pleasing; a strong inner critic can contribute to procrastination; relationship difficulties may bring questions of confidence, boundaries or identity to the surface.
Some of the areas I particularly work with include:
Low self-esteem & the inner critic
You may struggle to feel good enough, compare yourself with others or find that your achievements never quite seem to count. A strong inner critic can leave you continually questioning yourself even when others experience you as capable or successful.
Therapy can help us understand how this relationship with yourself developed and begin to create greater space between you and the critical voice.
Read about therapy for low self-esteem & the inner critic
Procrastination & self-sabotage
Procrastination is not always simply a problem of motivation or discipline.
Sometimes different parts of us are in conflict: one wants to move forward while another fears failure, exposure, criticism, responsibility or even the consequences of succeeding.
Understanding what lies beneath procrastination can make it possible to respond differently rather than continually fighting with yourself.
Read about therapy for procrastination & self-sabotage
People pleasing, confidence & self-doubt
If much of your attention is directed towards other people’s needs or how they might perceive you, it can become difficult to know what you think, feel or want.
You may find it hard to say no, set boundaries or tolerate disappointing someone. Therapy can help explore the fears beneath these patterns and support a more grounded relationship with your own needs, values and choices.
Imposter syndrome & perfectionism
You may appear confident or successful while privately fearing that you are not as capable as other people believe.
This can create pressure to work harder, avoid mistakes or continually prove yourself. Therapy can offer a space to explore the standards you hold yourself to and the deeper beliefs about worth, achievement and acceptance that may sit beneath them.
Relationships
Our relationships often bring deeply established patterns into view.
You may find yourself repeatedly drawn into similar dynamics, struggle with intimacy or boundaries, fear rejection, or find it difficult to express what you need.
Psychotherapy can help us understand these patterns in the context of both your past and your present relationships, including what emerges within the therapeutic relationship itself.
Meaning, identity & life direction
There are times when the question is less “How do I get rid of this symptom?” and more “How do I want to live?”
You may have reached a transition in your relationships, career or sense of identity. Something that previously gave your life structure or meaning may no longer feel sufficient.
Therapy can provide space to explore questions of identity, purpose, values and what may be seeking greater expression in your life.
My approach to psychotherapy
My work is grounded in psychosynthesis psychotherapy, an approach that considers both the difficulties and conditioning of our past and our capacity for growth, creativity and change.
Psychosynthesis recognises that we contain different parts of ourselves — sometimes called subpersonalities — which can have different needs, fears and intentions.
The inner critic, people-pleaser, perfectionist or procrastinating part, for example, may initially appear to be causing the problem. But rather than trying simply to eliminate these parts, we can become curious about how they developed and what they may be attempting to protect.
I also draw on psychodynamic and existential psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and other forms of parts work.
This allows us to work both with your personal history and relationships and with what is happening in your life now — including questions about choice, responsibility, meaning and the person you are becoming.
Depending on what emerges in our work, we may also use mindfulness, imagery, dreams or creative approaches.
Learn more about psychosynthesis psychotherapy →
A collaborative relationship
The relationship between therapist and client is central to how I work.
I don’t see therapy as something I do to you, or as a process in which I diagnose what is wrong and tell you how to fix it.
Instead, I see it as a collaborative exploration.
My role is to offer a confidential and non-judgemental space in which we can become curious about your experience together — including feelings or parts of yourself that may have been difficult to understand, express or accept elsewhere.
The therapeutic relationship can itself become part of this exploration. Patterns involving trust, approval, criticism, boundaries, closeness or the fear of being judged can sometimes emerge between us, giving us an opportunity to understand them in the present rather than only talking about them in the abstract.
More than symptom relief
Naturally, people often begin psychotherapy because something is painful or isn’t working.
Reducing distress matters.
But psychotherapy can also become something broader: an opportunity to understand yourself more deeply and develop a greater capacity to choose how you want to live.
For some people this includes questions of purpose, creativity, values or spirituality. For others it may mean becoming more able to recognise their needs, establish boundaries, develop satisfying relationships or pursue parts of life they have previously held back from.
You do not need to arrive with a clear idea of what you want from therapy.
Sometimes discovering the question is part of the work.
Psychotherapy in Dalston, East London and online
I offer individual psychotherapy and counselling for adults from my practice in Dalston, East London, as well as online.
Sessions provide a regular space in which we can explore what is bringing you to therapy and gradually develop an understanding of the patterns, relationships and experiences that have shaped you.
You do not need to know whether psychotherapy, counselling, psychosynthesis or any particular therapeutic approach is right for you before making contact.
If you feel that my way of working may be a good fit, you are welcome to book an initial session or contact me if you have any questions.
