I offer a relational, contemplative approach to psychotherapy and counselling, with a sense of connection to our innate health. As we sit with our painful experiences and inner senses, something in us naturally understands this as we connect to our 'Big Sky' mind, or 'Bodhicitta nature', our deep nature which is free of suffering in itself. This approach acknowledges that awareness helps us to deepen into our inner life, and the obscurations to clarity can dissolve as we deepen into that awareness.
My practice draws on:
- Humanistic and existential therapy, including ideas from Carl Rogers and Rollo May around authenticity, freedom, and the search for meaning
- Mindfulness and somatic awareness, rooted in Core Process Psychotherapy as taught at the Karuna Institute - attending to the body as a gateway to the present moment
- Psychodynamic and attachment-informed perspectives, including early relational wounding, mirroring, and the healing potential of the therapeutic relationship
- Nervous system regulation, informed by trauma-aware approaches such as those of Babette Rothschild and polyvagal theory
- Inner parts work and shadow integration, aligned with Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Jungian shadow work - supporting you in meeting and befriending exiled or protective parts of yourself
- Buddhist psychological wisdom, especially the Brahma Viharas (loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity), and the core insight of dependent arising - that everything arises in relationship
Underlying all of this is presence - a steady, compassionate awareness (sometimes described as witness consciousness) that allows experience to unfold, be held, and integrated in its own time.
