Specialist Areas
Depression & anxiety
While depression and anxiety seem like different symptoms, from a psychological and nervous system perspective, they are often interconnected and that is how I approach this work too.
In therapy we can explore the root causes of your depression or anxiety, while at the same time slowly allowing you to feel more of the emotions underneath those states. To allow this to happen I also focus on building safety and greater resilience in your nervous system. It is not just about intellectual understanding or even self-awareness but about embodied change.
Using the lens of Psychosynthesis allows us to re-imagine life, free from depression and anxiety, as we look at childhood wounding and limiting beliefs but also at your unique meaning and purpose, empowering you to find your agency.
Disconnection & low self-esteem
We are all influenced by social norms, cultural and familial dictates around what we “should” and “shouldn’t” do. If we are religious, we also have to navigate how we live our religious values. We are bombarded by images and ideas all day every day, on social media and beyond, so it is no wonder we are finding it hard to know ourselves.
If we also have experienced attachment wounding or trauma in childhood, our psyche responds with low self-esteem, a disconnect from ourselves and others and low self-worth. If this is your experience, life is calling you to reengage and re-imagine what your purpose and meaning is and how you relate to yourself.
On the other side of low self-esteem and disconnect is a life authentically yours that you are actively shaping based on your unique values. You are able to state your needs and be in relationship both with yourself and with others.
Life transitions
Psychosynthesis is particularly well-suited to support us during life transitions and in times when we feel stuck, unable or unwilling to move forward. We might have a sense of meaninglessness or hopelessness.
Transitions could involve relationships, gender, sexual, or religious identities, revolve around work or parenthood, or it could be a transition into a new phase of life. These transitions can feel extremely challenging, as they bring up questions around who we are and often, faced with uncertainty, our psyche can hold onto old patterns and beliefs even more firmly.
Change is deeply uncomfortable for many of our parts, even if it is wanted and desired by others. There is inherent inner conflict when we are faced with big change. I can help you move through the transition or the stuckness you are experiencing, holding both the difficult and exciting bits. Ultimately, this is our hero’s journey and through the spiral of life we all undergo big transitions, allowing us to become more of who we really are.
Burnout, fatigue & stress
I know intimately what it is like to feel burnt out, fatigued, overwhelmed and stressed, having experienced chronic health problems in the past myself. As well as looking at the causes of burnout, for instance our limiting beliefs and how we relate to ourselves and others, I also have a whole range of tools and techniques we can explore to help you recover.
Healing from burnout and stress is really working on two levels. It is about looking at why and what is contributing to our burnout, might it be trauma, inflexible thinking, old mindsets and beliefs about our worth, personality patterns adapted from childhood and parents, missing connection to self and others, etc.
It is also about working more concretely, with techniques and tools, on how to recover, reteach and repattern our brain to no longer use sensations of fatigue or pain, for instance, to get our attention. While recovery often takes time, it is absolutely possible, with the right approach and support!
Some say, when we experience mindbody symptoms such as fatigue and burnout, it is our body screaming because we have been unwilling or unable to hear its whispers. There is some truth in that and the way most of us live these days is not easy to handle for our bodies and nervous systems, certainly not for those of us with more sensitivity. Life these days is very stressful and we often find our bodies and emotions tell stories of this stress and overwhelm that our rational, thinking mind doesn’t want to acknowledge. Part of recovery and healing is finding a new way of being in the world.
Ready to get started?
Get in touch to arrange a free 15-minute phone call to find out how we might work together.