Areas Of Speciality

As well as offering support for the many day-to-day issues clients face. I am passionate about the following specialties, very much based on my own lived experience and my work before becoming a therapist. I have also undertaken specialist training in all three areas.

All three areas can also be closely linked, but don’t need to be, we can focus on one or all of these. Sometimes they are just a part of broader psychotherapy, or they could be the focus of therapy.

Neurodiversity

Whether it’s ADHD, ASD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourettes or a combination of conditions. I understand how hard life can be when you are Neurodivergent.

Going through life with an intuitive feeling that you are different to others, but not quite knowing how is hard. Trying to connect with your own feelings can be hard, let alone trying to navigate the emotions of those around you. Using up so much emotional energy just ‘fitting in’ that you end the day exhausted.

Therefore, working with a therapist that has a truly empathic understanding as well as lived experienced of being neurodivergent, can be key to accessing therapy in the way that you need it. All too often clients feel that they mask in therapy, because the therapist just won’t understand. I really want to help you explore how it is for you, offering a space where you can build the trust to let the mask slip and just be you.
x

How can I help?

• Do you want to understand your diagnosis a little more?
• Do you want to explore how it impacts your daily life?
• Do you want to begin to explore the trauma associated with living life in a world that didn’t support your needs?
• Do you want to access and explore your emotions in a safe way?
• Do you need to explore who you are, to get a sense of self, who you are behind the masking?
• Do you need space to just talk about your life with someone who ‘gets it’ but also wants to hear about you and your experiences?

Emotional Attachment to Food. Intuitive Eating and Body Neutrality.

We need to eat to survive, so why for so many people does food become something much more than the sustenance that fuels them? Why for many does it become a means of praise and also torture!

Are you looking for a supportive space in which you can begin to explore your relationship with food and the potential link to body image. 
x

How can I help?

• Do you want to start to look at what the food rules are that you often unconsciously follow and how long has this been an issue? 
• Do you want some time to focus on how food makes you feel, or doesn’t make you feel?
• Do you sit down and enjoy your meal whatever it is, or do you dread trying to work out what you can/can’t eat every day?
• Are you really comfort eating, or is it emotional eating? Surprisingly there is a difference!
• Why do you deprive your body of some foods, when the human body needs a balance of all food groups? 
• What do you consider good foods and bad foods? 
• Are you looking at changing the way you eat and want to address the patterns that you have now to avoid hitting the binge/restrict cycle? 
• Are you embarking on weight loss injections and want to address your relationship with food as well?

Peri-Menopause and Menopause.

It is often misunderstood just how much impact the hormonal changes of peri menopause and menopause have on women. It’s not just a few months in your life when your periods stop, the associated emotional symptoms such as; anxiety, anger, loss of self-esteem, being overwhelmed, brain fog, relationship problems, intimacy issues/loss of libido, loss of identity can impact for years!

Much is said about the physical changes, but it’s important to recognise that many women don’t have the obvious physical symptoms of hot flushes and erratic periods. For the vast majority, the effect on mood and emotions can be the hardest part to deal with.

Perimenopause and Menopause often occurs when you are also going through major changes in your life. It could be your children are moving out of home/starting Uni, parents becoming elderly and needing more care. Physical symptoms of peri menopause could be causing intimacy and relationship issues. It’s a time of life where its often hard to put yourself first.
x

How can I help?

• Do you want space to explore your emotions around the changes happening? 
• Are you feeling that you have lost a sense of who you are? 
• Do you feel that the person you have been for so long is now redundant? 
• Are the physical and emotional symptoms of Menopause effecting your relationship? 
• Do you need to explore how you feel about the fact that your fertility is decreasing? 
• Do you want to explore your feelings about HRT, is it the route for you? 
• Do you need space to talk about your experience in getting help from your GP?