Broadly speaking, we can work together in a few ways: shorter term counselling (to tackle an immediate issue), or longer-term (more personal growth focussed) counselling.The important thing is to get you functioning and feeling in a way that is more aligned to what you wish it could be.

My theoretical orientation is Adlerian. Please see the Alfred Adler page.

A ‘Here and Now’ and a ‘There and Then’ focus

Most folks come in to see me because there is something that needs immediate attention.

As part of feeling better in the present moment (the ‘here and now’) we are of course attentive to the present situation, but we also look backwards into the ‘there and then’. By looking backwards in time we often find the wisdom that we require today. Typically, what we once experienced as a younger person, even as a baby, can have connections to how we are feeling today. Our family history, political, social, cultural, and even spiritual/religious histories may provide us with insight into our present behaviour. Counselling takes into account the ‘here and now’ as well as the ‘there and then’.

The good news is that although our past experiences inform our present day self, when they are explored with compassion and understanding, they no longer need to dictate how we act today.

We typically begin with weekly sessions and, when the time is appropriate, move into bi-weekly sessions. As people begin to feel better the sessions ease off altogether. At this point I invite clients to pop in whenever they feel the need for a therapy ‘top-up’. Sometimes that means a one-off session, at other times a series of sessions.  Some people take a break for weeks or even months and years, and return to our sessions when they feel that they are needed again.

Other clients prefer an on-going relationship even when things are ‘going well’. This may mean regularly scheduled sessions (either weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) where we keep abreast and attuned to the flow of your life: the ups and the downs, the dreams, and the stuff of the day-to day.

• My theoretical orientation is Adlerian. Please see the Alfred Adler page.