How it works

Working with a therapist can be a rich and supportive experience, enabling you to better understand yourself, your relationships and helping to improve your overall quality of life. Here’s how my therapeutic process typically works:

I will arrange a free initial telephone consultation to understand your areas of concern and whether you want to come as an individual, couple or family with children.
I will confirm the fee and book our first appointment.
In the first session, I will ask questions about yourself, your family, your relationships and work or school, as well as things you enjoy doing and times when things have gone well. I will seek to establish how the current problem has arisen and we will explore any attempts you have already made to resolve the situation.
Together, we will draw a genogram or family tree where we will note any significant events, milestones or traumas. This will be referenced and added to in later sessions to help identify and explore the family history, patterns and beliefs.
Initial sessions are about establishing treatment goals and planning a way forward through and beyond areas of difficulty.
Therapy progresses with regular reviews of how the work is going, how the clients are feeling and what progress is being made.
During sessions I employ a range of different verbal, creative and somatic techniques to help increase understanding of concerns as well as looking at potential changes going forward.

Couples

If working with a couple, I will have sessions with the partners together and will also suggest separate sessions to gain a better understanding of each person’s concerns. Any issues can then be brought back into the couple sessions which can potentially lead to greater understanding of triggers and other sensitivities that emerge in the couple relationship.

Families

If the concerns are regarding a child or adolescent, I will initially speak with the parents – either individually or together depending on if you are separated or divorced and what feels right for you – to understand the history of your concerns. I will then try to meet the whole family together. After a gentle beginning where I ask about school/work and interests, I will try and understand the current concerns from both the child/young person’s and adults’ perspectives. After establishing therapy goals sessions can proceed with different combinations of family members as negotiated with the family.

If you have any questions, please have a look at my FAQs or contact me.

FAQs

How often do therapy sessions take place?

The frequency of therapy sessions depends upon each individual, couple or family and how the work is going. In most cases, we will meet either weekly, fortnightly, three weekly or monthly.

How long do the sessions last?
Individual therapy sessions usually last for 1 hour. The first couples or family therapy session is usually 90 minutes. We then decide whether subsequent sessions will be 90, 75 or 60 minutes. The longer time offers greater opportunity to explore and understand areas of concern, as well as potential helpful changes going forward.

Where do sessions take place?

Therapy sessions take place at my West Norwood practice or online via Zoom.

How long do people typically have therapy for?

The length of therapy varies from individual to couple to family. Sessions can span a 3-6 month period, or may last up to a year, two years, or even longer as necessary, with gaps of 2-4 weeks to allow for changes to be observed, practiced and integrated. Endings are agreed upon together, depending on the client and their processes, and can range from ending in-session to a much slower process over a few months.

If you have any other questions, please contact me.