My Approach

I offer individual psychotherapy and psychological therapy for adults in Worthing, West Sussex, with appointments also available in Brighton & Hove and online across the UK. For me, therapy begins with trying to understand your experience together — how you have come to feel, relate and make sense of yourself and the world in the ways that you do. My approach is relational, integrative and trauma-informed. Depending on what you need, our work may involve understanding deeper relational and emotional patterns, making sense of difficult or overwhelming experiences, or focusing first on stabilisation, grounding and developing ways to feel safer and more able to manage what you are experiencing. I draw on psychodynamic psychotherapy, Mentalization-Based Therapy, existential therapy and other therapeutic approaches, rather than assuming that one way of working will be right for everyone. I also offer specialist autism assessments for adults.

Values
I fervently believe in the value of the therapeutic process and relationship. I strive to develop a way of thinking about and practising counselling and psychotherapy that begins with an ethic of respect and responsibility: How can I engage with my clients—and with the wider world—in ways that are deeply valuing, respectful, and helpful?

Why therapy?
Everyone is different, and everyone has a unique life full of difficult challenges and strengths. Thus, the aim of my work is to collaboratively focus on what you may want and need help with. Some people come to therapy feeling overwhelmed, lacking control over their lives, and seeking help in finding more meaningful ways to navigate challenges. Others seek therapeutic help when they have a general sense that 'something is not quite right' or 'something needs to change.' While most people come to me for deep, transformative change, which requires time and effort, we can also focus on specific short-term goals for symptom relief.

Inner world issues
Whatever the reasons are, it's important to me that you feel safe and accepted, enabling you to explore your difficult experiences and understand what troubles you. We will also focus on your strengths while we work towards desirable change.

Outer world issues
Furthermore, in your psychotherapy with me, I will aim to explore with you and understand your outer world issues, the life-difficulties you have faced, and currently face, in relationships with partners, family or other loved ones, in your employment or professional setting, and/or any other region of your life-world.

Focus on experiences
My focus will always be on your unique personal experience of these difficulties—how you perceive yourself, others, and the world, and the emotions that arise from your perspective

Therapeutic change
By working together, I aim to help you become more aware of your blind spots, understand your troubling feelings, thoughts, and/or behaviors, accept what cannot be changed, and change what can be changed. This process allows you to break the cycle of hopelessness. Therapeutic work can help you to find new ways to relate with yourself and others around you; to distinguish if what you do is meaningful to you or if you merely follow the expectations of others; to explore and expand new possibilities for personal change, and to build more fulfilling personal relationships.

 

Clinical Specialities

Clinical areas of interest include issues related to attachment and relationships, loneliness and alienation, difficulties with emotion regulation (anger, fear, etc.), low self-worth, emotional eating issues, depression, anxiety, sexuality, traumatic experiences, sexual and emotional abuse, psychosis, and existential concerns such as mortality, meaning in life, decision-making, as well as socio-cultural contextual influences in life and people's roles in this.

Life transitions and shattering trauma
Whether it's exiting an intimate relationship, receiving a life-threatening disease diagnosis, suddenly losing a job, changing careers, becoming a parent, or coping with loss, even positive life changes can be stressful.
In our daily lives, we often believe that life is predictable, that we are in control of what happens, and that good things happen to good people while bad things happen to bad people. However, life events can abruptly shatter these assumptions, making us keenly aware of the reality we may have been avoiding. In such situations, feelings of frustration and anger may arise, accompanied by questions like 'why did this happen to me?' We are forced to confront reality in an undeniable way, realizing the impossibility of maintaining full control or invulnerability. Therapy can assist you in embracing these changes and developing more realistic positive assumptions, enabling you to experience life as meaningful once again.

Relationship issues
Relationships offer us a sense of meaning through connection, understanding, care, and a feeling of belonging to specific communities (e.g., family, friends, intimate relationships, colleagues, society). They serve as a source of both safety and novelty, fostering new learning experiences. Nevertheless, we may encounter challenges, experiencing feelings of being stuck, confused, and distressed. Struggling to make sense of our relationships, we may find ourselves trapped in painful and destructive patterns, leaving us feeling small, lonely, helpless, unwanted, and alienated. Therapy can provide significant support, as the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a tool for working through these issues. Together, we can aim to identify and understand the underlying patterns and themes that contribute to pain and conflict in your relationships. Recognizing these patterns often unveils their connection to traumatic experiences. As we explore your meaning-making process, new relational possibilities may emerge, enabling you to develop more meaningful and satisfying connections.

Depression, anxiety, and stress
Feeling that nothing makes sense, that life is out of control, experiencing tiredness, intense fear, heaviness, or sadness, or having difficulty regulating your emotions. Therapy offers various approaches to address these uncomfortable experiences. We can try mindfulness exercises, breathwork, and/or guided imagery to help calm and relax you.
I can also help you in exploring and understanding your experiences of depression and anxiety. Often, we perceive such feelings as negative or 'not normal.' However, these feelings are normal; they are like a compass, indicating that there is something we should not be doing and suggesting alternatives that could be more helpful or meaningful to us. Discovering new and more effective ways of coping will help alleviate distress over time.

Cumulative trauma and abuse
We do not need to experience a life-changing event to experience trauma. Some of us need help with the lifelong consequences of everyday, endlessly repeated micro-traumas, abuse, negative criticism, and lack of care that occurred in our childhood. Such frequent repetition of seemingly minor hurts can often lead to serious problems in relationships, self-experience, and in finding meaning in life.

Diversity
I have worked with individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and the LGBTQ+ community who have experienced direct or indirect impacts of inequality and discrimination. Even if I do not have direct experience with a particular culture, background, or identity, I am sensitive to the profound impact that inequality may have and invite an ongoing open dialogue to enrich mutual understanding. My approach is to encourage you to share your story and understand what has happened to you—how power operated in your life, how it affected you, how you made sense of it, and how you responded to it. My aim is to help you regain personal agency and develop internal and external resources.

 

Therapies Offered

I work in an integrative manner, drawing from a range of approaches including Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Mentalization-Based Therapy, Person-Centred Therapy, Existential Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, trauma-informed approaches, stabilisation and emotion regulation work. I also offer specialist autism assessment. Different approaches and ways of working may be more or less helpful at different points in time, depending on what you might need or want me to assist you with along your therapeutic pathway.