What happens during the first session?

You may have an idea of what has brought you to therapy, or you may feel confused and overwhelmed. We would initially explore what has lead you here and establish how you want to move forward. I believe that the early stages of therapy are important for forming a relationship and will therefore feel more like getting to know the process and each other. The first session is casual and comfortable however does require some information gathering to build a picture. I will also be outlining the boundaries of the session for the ongoing safety of the work.

What type of therapy do you offer?

My therapy training was integrative, which means that I select the most appropriate approach for your needs. For example, you might just want to talk, and that will work for you. You might want to learn new techniques to cope and talking alone won’t be enough. In this increasingly diverse world we live in - with a variety of different problems and complexities - it helps to meet this with a flexible and diverse range of skills, which I believe works best when working with individuals that don’t fit into a neat criteria.

The psychobabble response to that question is that I trained with mostly psychodynamic, humanistic, and CBT models, and later built DBT onto that which forms many of the skills based interventions that I use.

How many sessions will I need?

This is really going to be down to the individual. I offer both short and long term therapy. What I initially suggest is working in blocks of 6 sessions, and we will review the process regularly. This is also an important aspect of the process to assess if the work is proving effective, or if adjustments need to be made.

Where are you based?

I am currently based just outside St Albans, which is in Hertfordshire. I also have an office in Hemel Hempstead. I am currently only able to offer online therapy via zoom due to safety, however once normal service resumes I hope to begin face to face work asap.

How does it work with zoom?

Evidence shows that online therapy has many benefits and is an effective treatment method. Some of the key findings from research in this area*. Online therapy has been shown to produce the same positive outcomes as face-to-face therapy. Overall, patients receiving online therapy are very satisfied with their experiences, with many saying that the service is easy to use and means they don’t have to travel to appointments. Mental health assessments and diagnoses made using online therapy were shown to be as reliable as assessments made during face-to-face therapy
*Source: World Journal of Psychology Based Outcomes

What are your costs?

Costing varies depending on assessment. I offer you a free 15 minute consultation via zoom or phone where we can discuss working together and establish pricing from there.