Hello, I am Amanda, a BACP-accredited psychotherapist and counsellor working with adults, couples and young people aged 16+.

I spent the first part of my career making films and documentaries. Twelve years ago I had a change of heart and re-trained as a therapist. Part of my training involved going into therapy myself. Talking to someone outside of my family and friends was a liberating experience. I profoundly believe in this process and look to share its possibilities with the people I work with.

In my practice today I aim to help my clients find new perspectives and a deeper understanding of themselves that in turn can bring about change on their own terms. I work particularly within a relational context, looking at how our relationships past and present have shaped us and influence how we think, feel and behave.

As human beings we are wired for connection and strong relational bonds. When life’s adversity hits us, when we face challenges, transition, change, loss, grief, or simply a hard choice we need these strong relational bonds to help us cope.

When these bonds are threatened, ruptured or never established in childhood we struggle to live full, meaningful lives. Our external bonds with family, friends, partners, colleagues, animals, work and fun impact our confidence and self-esteem. Harder to confront are the internal bonds we have with our physical bodies and our emotional selves. We can become our own worst enemy. We lose sight of what is truly important to us. Deep down, often buried in our unconscious, our personal desires, goals, aspirations and dreams never get realised.

Therapy allows us to explore where we are in our lives, how we have got here, and where we would like to be. These positions can appear blurry and far apart leaving us anxious, lost and confused. Finding any joy can be a struggle.

Working together we’d look to make sense of your experience, to gently unpick any trauma you have endured, and to consider changes that could help you feel more in control and fulfilled in life. Often we find unconscious patterns of relating learned in childhood and early life dynamically playing out to this day. An inner critic that continues to have a loud voice in telling us how we should be, rather than how we actually are. Life opens up and becomes more ‘alive’ and enjoyable when we accept who we truly are and have the courage to expect nothing less from others.

Living in the 21st century we are constantly under pressure to perform, to achieve, to keep moving and reacting. There is little time to stop and reflect. Little time to think about what we are actually doing and how we are actually feeling. It is easy to feel negative and powerless and to lose sight of what is intrinsically important to us.  

In my view therapy is not a one-size-fits-all methodology. I trained in an integrative, relational approach whereby I seek to alleviate emotional and physical distress through the considered integration of more than one theoretical approach according to the needs of each individual. This includes:

• Humanistic Theory - with the key principle that given the right conditions every human being, whatever their disturbance, has the capacity and desire to grow and change.

• Psychodynamic Theory - examining how unresolved childhood trauma and experience and our early care-giving relationships can continue to play out in our present in unconscious and defensive ways.

• Transactional Analysis - an accessible, versatile, creative theory of psychology that explores an individual’s personality and patterns of relating , and how these have been shaped by experience.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - a practical, solution-focused and proactive theory identifying how thoughts can influence feelings and behaviour and how learnt behaviours, habits and negative thought patterns can impact lives.

I know first-hand how challenging life can be and how difficult it is to seek help; I have been there myself and I have experienced how life-changing sensitive and dynamic therapy can be. The strength of the relationship between therapist and client plays a crucial part in determining positive therapeutic outcomes. I will not advise or tell you what to do. My priority is to build a trusting, non-judgmental, mutually-respectful, collaborative therapeutic relationship from which to explore whatever is troubling you.