A little room to understand
01 / 09Trauma and difficult experiences
Trauma is what happens inside us when something overwhelming happens to us. It might be a single event such as an accident, assault or sudden loss, or years of experiences that no one would call dramatic but that left a mark: growing up around unpredictability, being bullied, a relationship that slowly wore you down. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the name for when the mind and body stay on alert long after the danger has passed. Not everyone who has been through something frightening develops it, and the impact of an experience cannot be judged from the outside.
How we can work together
Trauma is an area I know well from many years of clinical work. We never go straight into the hardest material. First we build steadiness and safety, using DBT and mindfulness skills so you have ways to settle yourself. Then, if it is right for you, we work through what happened at a pace your nervous system can tolerate. Trauma-informed yoga can be part of that if you want it.
You do not need to describe what happened to get in touch. "I think it might be trauma" is enough for a first conversation.
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A little room to understand
02 / 09Anxiety, panic and overwhelm
Anxiety is the body’s alarm system. Everyone has it, and in short bursts it is useful. It becomes a problem when the alarm fires without a fire, or far louder than the situation calls for, and starts to run your decisions. Panic attacks are the alarm at full volume: a surge of fear with a racing heart, breathlessness or dizziness and a feeling that you are about to lose control. They are frightening but not dangerous.
How we can work together
Anxiety keeps itself going through a loop: a frightening thought, a physical reaction, and something you do to feel safer that quietly feeds the fear. Using CBT ideas we map your loop and test the predictions behind it, gradually and at your pace. ACT helps you make room for anxious feelings without obeying them, and mindfulness gives you a way back to the present when your mind has run ahead to the worst case.
If anxiety is making it hard even to reach out, a one-line message is enough. I will take it from there.
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A little room to understand
03 / 09Low mood and depression
Depression is more than feeling sad. It is a flatness where nothing feels worth it, an exhaustion that sleep does not fix, and a harsh inner voice that says it is your fault. A difficult period and depression are not the same thing, although both deserve attention. It is one of the most common mental health difficulties in the UK, and one of the most treatable.
How we can work together
Depression traps people in cycles: you feel low, so you do less, so you feel lower. Together we look at what is feeding the cycle and gently rebuild small sources of energy, connection and meaning. Alongside that, we work on the self-critical patterns underneath, drawing on CBT, compassion-based and schema ideas.
When you are depressed, getting in touch can feel like a mountain. A short message is enough. We will go from there.
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A little room to understand
04 / 09Intense emotions and relationship patterns
Some people feel things more intensely than others seem to, swing between closeness and pushing people away, fear being abandoned, or find their sense of who they are keeps shifting. You may have been given a label such as borderline or emotionally unstable personality disorder, prefer the term complex emotional needs, or use neither. Many people find the label itself painful. What it describes is real, though: a nervous system shaped by early experience to react fast and feel hard.
How we can work together
This is an area I care deeply about and have worked in for many years. I draw on DBT, which was built precisely for these difficulties and teaches concrete skills for riding out intense emotions and handling relationships, and on schema ideas to understand the deep patterns that formed early. All of it happens inside a steady, non-judgemental relationship, because that relationship is itself part of the work.
You do not need a diagnosis to work with me, and you do not need to agree with one you have been given. Come as you are.
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A little room to understand
05 / 09Eating difficulties
Eating difficulties are rarely really about food. Restricting, bingeing, purging, over-exercising, or a constant preoccupation with weight and shape are usually ways of coping with feelings that have nowhere else to go, or of feeling in control when everything else is not. Eating disorders are complex illnesses, not a choice or a failure of willpower. They affect people of every size, gender and age, and you do not have to look unwell to be struggling.
How we can work together
We work with the thoughts and feelings behind the behaviour: self-worth, perfectionism and the emotions that food has been managing. You do not need to provide numbers, food records or a detailed history in an enquiry. Early help makes a real difference, so please do not wait until things feel "serious enough".
If you are not sure whether what you are doing counts as an eating disorder, that is a good enough reason to ask.
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A little room to understand
06 / 09Sleep and rest
Poor sleep makes everything else harder, and anxiety, trauma and low mood all interfere with sleep in turn. Insomnia is when the difficulty becomes a pattern: trouble falling asleep, waking in the night, waking far too early, or sleeping but never feeling rested, for weeks or months at a time. Sleep is influenced by many things, including stress, health, surroundings and routines, so there may be more than one part to the picture.
How we can work together
We combine well-established ideas about the habits and beliefs that keep sleep broken with mindfulness and body-based techniques that help a wound-up nervous system wind down. Where nightmares are linked to trauma, we look at the trauma too. The aim is for your bed to stop being a battleground.
If sleep is the main thing, say so. It is often a shorter, very practical piece of work.
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A little room to understand
07 / 09Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the skill of noticing what is happening in your mind and body right now, without immediately fighting it or getting swept away by it. It is not about emptying your mind or being calm all the time. It is a trained way of paying attention that gives you a little more room between what you feel and what you do.
How we can work together
In sessions it is practical and brief, not an hour of sitting in silence. We start with short practices that fit into a real life, and I adapt them if sitting still with your eyes closed feels unsafe, which it does for many people who have been through trauma. Over time it becomes a steadying resource you carry with you.
Mindfulness can be the whole focus of our work or one part of it. Ask on your free call and we will work out which.
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08 / 09Neurodivergence and everyday life
If you are autistic, have ADHD, or suspect you might, your brain works differently, not wrongly. Many adults only recognise this late, after years of being told they are too much, too sensitive, lazy or disorganised. That history often brings anxiety, burnout, low self-worth and trauma of its own.
How we can work together
Therapy should work with how you are wired, not against it. I adapt the way we work: session structure, how we handle overwhelm, how much we rely on talking versus doing. I am comfortable with the overlap between neurodivergence and the other difficulties on this page, and I will never treat your neurotype as the problem to be fixed.
Tell me what helps you feel comfortable in a conversation, and we will start there.
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A little room to understand
09 / 09Stress, burnout and life changes
Sometimes there is no diagnosis, just too much. Work pressure, caring for others, a relationship ending, grief, a health scare, or a life that looks fine from the outside and feels empty inside. Burnout is what happens when stress has gone on so long that you have run out of road: exhausted, cynical, and unable to care about things you used to care about.
How we can work together
These are often shorter, focused pieces of work: getting your footing back, understanding what has been driving you past your limits, and deciding what you actually want next. ACT and compassion-based ideas are particularly useful here, along with mindfulness for the physical side of stress.
You do not need to be in crisis to deserve support. If you are wondering whether it is "bad enough", it is enough.
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