What I Can Help With
I work with adults who may appear to be managing life reasonably well on the outside, while feeling that something is not quite right underneath. You may have a career, a relationship, children, friends and many of the things you expected to have, yet still feel dissatisfied, uncertain, or disconnected.
Relationships can be a particular source of difficulty. You may find yourself feeling tense, misunderstood or dissatisfied, having the same arguments repeatedly, or becoming caught up in patterns that you do not fully understand. You might long for closeness while also finding yourself withdrawing, becoming defensive or struggling to trust. You may want to understand why your relationships feel more difficult than you would like, or why you seem to find yourself in familiar, unwanted patterns.
You may also be questioning your career or the direction your life is taking. Perhaps you know that something needs to change but are unsure what that change should be. You might be capable and responsible, yet find yourself held back by self-doubt.
For parents, or those considering becoming parents, this stage of life can bring unexpected emotional challenges. You may find yourself reacting more strongly to your children than you would like, struggling with boundaries or discipline, or finding that parenting has brought up difficult feelings and experiences from your own childhood.
At other times, there may be no single problem that brings you to therapy. You may simply have a sense that something keeps going wrong, or that you are not living or relating in the way you would like, without being able to quite put your finger on why.
You might find yourself thinking:
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"Why does this keep happening?"
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"Why can't they understand me?"
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"Why does this relationship feel so difficult?"
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"I wish this felt better."
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"I want to feel seen and loved."
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"I want to feel respected."
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"I want to feel like we're actually on the same page."
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"I know what I should do, so why can't I seem to do it?"
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"I want to be more confident in the choices I make."
Therapy can be an opportunity to slow down and understand what is happening beneath these experiences.
My Approach
I am an integrative therapist, which means I draw on different psychological and therapeutic approaches to develop an understanding of each person as an individual. My background in psychology, philosophy, and psychotherapy has taught me to consider difficulties from different perspectives and to think carefully about what may be most helpful for you as an individual.
Different perspectives may become helpful at different points in therapy. Sometimes it may be useful to understand how earlier relationships and experiences continue to shape the way you feel and relate to others. At other times, it may be more helpful to notice patterns in your thinking, consider what you genuinely want, or make sense of questions about meaning, choice and responsibility.
My role is not to fit you into a particular theory or apply techniques simply because they belong to a particular approach. Instead, I will listen carefully to what you are experiencing and work with you to understand what may be most helpful.
