Are you feeling low in confidence, feelings of worthlessness or having many negative thoughts about yourself? Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others who seemingly have things figured out or a ‘perfect’ life?
In our counselling session, we could gently explore whose standards these are - yours or someone else's? Would you expect the same from others as you do from yourself? 

We might be curious about where these ‘should’s’, standards or ideas have come from.

Often how we think of ourselves is shaped by others' expectations, society and wider influences. As humans, we develop and learn from the world around us. Sometimes external values and opinions aren’t what we hold truly important ourselves. 

Finding what is genuinely important to you and living your truth can help you feel more confident in yourself and support greater self-worth. Counselling offers the chance to learn and explore more about you, which can also help to bring understanding, kindness and compassion to yourself.

Have you been feeling down, low in mood and energy for long periods of time, struggling with negative thoughts, perhaps hopelessness, or finding it hard to enjoy things?

Depression can be an isolating place and can feel very lonely, but you are not alone.

In Counselling we can gently explore what is causing you to feel this way and find different ways to help you cope. We might also explore what you once found joy in, what you may be avoiding, and why. Identifying your thoughts and feelings can support you to better understand your experiences and yourself, and to find ways forward that feel manageable for you.

Sometimes we can feel stuck in familiar patterns or roles we’ve learned to fulfil, even when they no longer feel right for us. Counselling offers a space to gently explore these experiences, make sense of the stories we carry about ourselves and consider how things might begin to shift.  

Bereavement is often an extremely painful and intense experience. It can also feel confusing or different from what we expect. Everyone will lose someone they love at some time in their life, but that doesn’t mean we all grieve in the same way. Grief is deeply personal and experienced differently across time and cultures. 

There is often an expectation to ‘move on’ or go through certain stages of grief when in reality there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Through counselling sessions, I support clients in finding ways to live with their grief, understand how their grief is experienced uniquely to them and sometimes how to continue bonds with their loved ones. There are no expectations around how you should or should not feel, it is a space to explore anything that is important to you.
We may also discuss difficulties such as feelings of guilt, anger or relief. Grief can be complicated, due to difficult relationships or trauma. It may be that you are grieving for someone who is still alive, such as a loved one living with dementia, where the loss is ongoing.

From my Master’s research, I have found that nature can be a source of support through bereavement, which is something we can explore together if you feel open to connecting with nature outside of sessions.

I have worked with many clients experiencing bereavement and feel immense gratitude that clients trusted me with their emotions, precious memories and stories.This sensitive work is deeply important to me, I bring care and compassion, without judgment to our sessions.

Loss can present in many ways; loss of a relationship, friendship, a job or career, loss health or abilities, a life or future you had imagined for yourself, an identity or role that was or is important to you. Loss can bring grief, uncertainty or higher levels of stress.

I offer an empathic space for you to feel and express this loss without judgement or expectation. Through exploration, counselling can support you to find ways to live with significant changes and make sense of what this loss means for you.

Are you constantly worried and don’t know how to stop? Are you feeling physically tense, uneasy, on edge, or panicked?

In Counselling we can explore this anxiety - when it may have started, what tends to happen before or during anxious feelings, and how it shows up for you both emotionally and physically. We can carefully explore what your fears are and what they might be trying to protect you from.

If it is useful and appropriate, I can support you to learn techniques to release tension in the body, feel more grounded, or mindful exercises to regulate the breath.

We might also be curious about times when your anxiety has felt less present - what was different then, and what might that tell us.

Together, we can explore how this anxiety is impacting your life and whether it is stopping you from living in ways that matter to you. Counselling can support you to find coping strategies and ways forward that feel right for you.

Anger is a normal emotion we all feel from time to time and there are certainly situations in life where anger feels like the most appropriate response. But anger can also become a problem when irritability turns to aggression and impulsive behaviours and may impact those around you. You may feel an urge to shout and scream, noticing difficult feelings bubbling up both in your mind and body and not know how to calm down.

With feelings of anger, there is often more below the surface. Anger itself can be a very unpleasant emotion, but sometimes for different reasons, it can be our default or a less difficult way of accessing our inner state.
In counselling, we could explore what may be triggering the feeling of anger, and perhaps what is lying beneath if anger is the tip of the iceberg.

If we can find what is causing or triggering anger, we can unpack this, and perhaps problem solve together ways of dealing with real life situations with a calmer approach.

Sometimes anger is anger alone, but often it is masking other emotions. Many people feel shame or guilt, but I am not here to judge you in the counselling space, I am here to help you find a different way of expressing yourself, if that is what you want.

Some stress is an expected normal part of life, but feeling stressed too much or too often can significantly impact our wellbeing, physically and mentally. Our tolerance to stress can be visualised as a jug, filling with water each time something makes us feel stressed, eventually overflowing and spilling over the top of the jug, when we simply can’t cope or manage the amount of stress we are feeling.

We may explore what pressures you are experiencing, where they come from and how they affect you. Counselling can support you to find ways to make holes in the jug - so there is room to breathe and the water doesn’t overflow. It can help you to find your individual ways or strategies to self-soothe, relax or calm the nervous system and body.

Emotional stress is closely connected to the body. Sharing those stressors and experiences, and having supportive conversations can increase hormones that help to relax the body. Crying releases cortisol (a hormone associated with stress). 

‘Who am I?’
‘Is this ‘me’?’
‘What is important to me?’
‘Where do I go from here?’
‘How can I be myself?’

We go through so many changes in life and sometimes we don’t have much time to adjust. You may have taken on a caring role, changed careers or lost something that once felt central and significant to who you are.

Identity relates to gender, sexuality, culture and values too. I welcome clients of all genders, sexual orientations and identities.

Counselling can provide space to explore who you are becoming and what feels true to you. 

Relationships and connections are core to our sense fulfilment and wellbeing. When relationships are complex, painful or challenging this can have a significant impact on how we feel and live our lives.

Counselling offers a space to explore your relationships with others. We can be curious about how you relate and respond to others, notice any patterns that may show up across relationships. We may consider how you have learned to have relationships with others, how past experiences have impacted you and your relationships in the present.

Our relationship with ourselves is often closely connected to how we experience relationships with those around us. Counselling can support you in exploring how you want to communicate with others and how you respond when situations feel triggering.