Areas of Interest

Grief and Loss

Loss is an inevitable part of life, and grief is a natural part of the healing process. The reasons for grief are many, such as the loss of a loved one, the loss of health, or the letting go of a long-held dream. Dealing with a significant loss can be one of the most difficult times in a person’s life.

Attachment and Intimacy

People can find being intimate with people in their lives difficult . They can struggle to reveal their vulnerabilities without  the fear  that what they share will be used against them. Intimacy relies on safety, patience, mutuality, respect, constance, and no secrets. Without healthy self-disclosure at the right time, there can be no intimacy. And that takes honesty about who we are and how we feel. The more intimate you are, the safer you feel and the more worthwhile the relationship.

Childhood Abuse

There are four types of child abuse; physical, sexual, psychological and physical and emotional neglect.  Although listed as four distinct categories they all over lap.  For example a child may experience physical violence and also be forced to watch his parent being physically abused, resulting in psychological damage.All four types of abuse have things in common; they are detrimental to the well being of the child involved and can have serious consequences in the child’s development with far reaching problems right into adulthood. Although the adult has buried his or her experiences deep within the realms of the mind, the effects of the abuse can continue in the fore front of everyday life.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. These disorders affect how we feel and behave, and they can manifest real physical symptoms. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can be extremely debilitating, having a serious impact on daily life. People often experience a general state of worry or fear before confronting something challenging such as a test, examination, recital, or interview. These feelings are easily justified and considered normal. Anxiety is considered a problem when symptoms interfere with a person’s ability to sleep or otherwise function. Generally speaking, anxiety occurs when a reaction is out of proportion with what might be normally expected in a situation.

Depression

Sometimes people become depressed in response to something in particular and sometimes depression can occur for no obvious reason. Some of the things that can trigger depression include, history of depression within the family, a stressful event or chain of events such as a family break-up, child abuse, ongoing bullying at school, rape, a death, a relationship break up, family conflict, and having a baby (postnatal depression). People experiencing depression can sometimes have suicidal thoughts. If you feel like this, it’s really important that you seek help.There are a lots of things you can do to help you manage your depression and people get through it all the time. The sooner a person is treated the more effective that treatment will be.

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is all about how much we feel valued, loved, accepted, and thought well of by others — and how much we value, love, and accept ourselves. People with healthy self-esteem are able to feel good about themselves, appreciate their own worth, and take pride in their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. People with low self-esteem may feel as if no one will like them or accept them or that they can’t do well in anything. We all experience problems with self-esteem at certain times in our lives, especially during our teens when we’re figuring out who we are and where we fit in the world. The good news is that, because everyone’s self-image changes over time, self-esteem is not fixed for life. So if you feel that your self-esteem isn’t all it could be, you can improve it.

Relationships

Relationships are often the most important areas in our lives. Our well-being can be determined by how we relate to others such as family, friends, acquaintances or colleagues. Often it can be  difficult for us to trust others or open ourselves to intimacy. Maybe we have trouble establishing boundaries and saying ‘no’ when we need to. It could be that we can’t control our anger and we have damaged our relationships with abusive words or actions. Personal Therapy can help to explore and process these difficulties and make positive changes to make improvements.

Sexual Difficulties

Often people experience some form of sexual difficulty (the inability to experience sexual arousal or to achieve sexual satisfaction or fulfilment) at some time in their lives. This can be experienced as problems with loss of sex drive, libido or desire, problems with orgasm or symptoms of pain associated with sexual activity in both men and women. These can be lifelong problems that have always been present, or acquired problems that develop after a period of normal sexual function. Unexplored, they can cause distress and anxiety and thus impact on self-esteem, relationships and overall quality of life.

Working with dreams

Dream work can provide us with a unique opportunity to access our creative imagination in ways that are often not accessible to us in the normal waking state. The dream images may seem strange at first glance but often after further exploration, prove to be accurate visual metaphors for what the client may be struggling with or has experienced in life. Understanding our dreams helps us understand ourselves more fully.