Psychotherapy for Becoming More Fully Yourself
Perhaps you know that something isn't quite right, but aren't sure exactly what.
You may be experiencing anxiety, depression, grief, relationship difficulties, work stress, shame or self-criticism. You may be struggling with questions around sexuality, gender or identity, feeling disconnected from yourself, or finding that old ways of coping no longer seem to work.
Or perhaps nothing is obviously wrong, but you have a sense that something in your life needs to change.
Psychotherapy can offer a space to slow down, listen more deeply and begin to understand what is happening beneath the surface of your life.
You don't need to arrive already knowing exactly what you need, or even knowing what is wrong. We can begin with whatever is happening for you now.
I offer a warm, thoughtful and non-judgemental space where you can explore your experience with curiosity and without assumptions. My aim is not to tell you who you are or give you ready-made answers, but to help you develop a deeper relationship with yourself and discover your own way forward.
I work particularly openly with LGBTQ+ and queer people, and with people exploring questions of gender, sexuality, identity and belonging. I also welcome people for whom spirituality, meaning, nature or a sense of connection with the wider living world are important parts of their experience.
A different way of meeting ourselves
Our difficulties are rarely the whole story.
Alongside anxiety, sadness, anger or fear are the ways we have learned to meet those experiences. We may become highly self-critical, try to stay in control, suppress difficult emotions, lose ourselves in caring for others, or simply feel numb or disconnected.
At one time, these ways of being may have protected us.
Over time, however, they can begin to limit our freedom and make it difficult to know what we really need or want.
Rather than trying to eliminate uncomfortable feelings or become somebody different, psychotherapy invites us to become curious about our experience.
Together we can begin to notice thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, relationship patterns and deeply held assumptions about ourselves. We can explore the protective parts of us that have developed over time: the inner critic, the part that feels ashamed, the part that needs to stay in control, or younger parts of ourselves that may still carry experiences that have never felt fully understood.
With compassion and awareness, these parts don't necessarily need to be fought or overcome. They can begin to be understood.
Often, therapy feels less like becoming somebody new and more like returning to something that was already there.
How I work
My work is grounded in Core Process Psychotherapy, a contemplative approach that integrates Western psychodynamic understanding with mindfulness and Buddhist psychology.
Before training in Core Process Psychotherapy, I practised as a Humanistic-Existential counsellor. Today I work integratively, drawing on different perspectives according to what best supports each individual.
The therapeutic relationship itself is central to my work.
Many of our deepest difficulties have developed through relationship, and relationship can also become a place where something different is experienced. I pay attention not only to what you tell me, but also to what unfolds between us — including feelings, patterns and ways of relating that may be difficult to notice elsewhere.
Together, we may explore:
- recurring relationship patterns that no longer serve you
- painful emotions that have never felt fully met or understood
- self-critical, protective or defensive parts of yourself
- childhood experiences that continue to shape the present
- questions of sexuality, gender, identity and belonging
- the relationship between thoughts, emotions, bodily experience and awareness
- questions of meaning, purpose and spiritual experience
- how greater compassion and understanding can create space for new possibilities.
I don't see therapy as something that should tell you who you are.
My role is to become curious with you about what is already there.
Queer, identity and difference
I am committed to LGBTQ+ affirmative practice and to creating a therapeutic space where sexuality, gender and identity can be explored openly and without assumptions.
As a gay man myself, I understand something of the importance of being met in the fullness and complexity of who we are.
I have undertaken specialist training with Pink Therapy, including work exploring LGBTQ+ and queer intersectionalities. I also continue to deepen my understanding through engagement with queer communities and spaces.
For me, queer experience cannot be separated neatly from the rest of our lives. Sexuality, gender, relationships, family, culture, community, class, age, place and our relationship with the wider world can all shape how we experience ourselves.
Therapy can offer a space to explore these intersections without reducing you to any one part of your identity.
You do not need to arrive already knowing exactly who you are.
You can be uncertain. You can be contradictory. You can be questioning.
There is room for all of that here.
Spirit, meaning and the living world
Alongside my psychotherapeutic training, my work is increasingly informed by ecopsychology and my developing interest in Wild Therapy.
I am interested in the relationship between psychological wellbeing, place, landscape, seasonality and our sense of belonging within the wider living world.
For some people, questions of meaning, spirituality or spirit are an important part of psychological life. These experiences can be explored within therapy with openness and curiosity, without imposing a particular belief system.
Our inner lives do not exist separately from the world around us. The places we live, the landscapes we inhabit, the seasons, our bodies and our relationships with the more-than-human world can all influence our sense of who we are and where we belong.
Where appropriate, therapy may also include meeting outdoors, allowing landscape, seasonality and the living world to become part of the therapeutic process.
I am interested in the possibility that healing can involve not only becoming more at home within ourselves, but also finding a deeper sense of belonging in the world around us.
I am also interested in the deeper creative and imaginal dimensions of our lives: the ways that dreams, poetry, myth, story and symbol can give shape to experiences that may otherwise remain difficult to understand. Sometimes these forms of imagination can help us encounter ourselves differently, opening possibilities for meaning, connection and a deeper sense of belonging in the world.
Finding your own way
One of the deepest values that guides my work is a respect for your own capacity to find your way through difficulty.
My role is not to tell you who you are, offer ready-made answers or simplify experiences that may be complex.
Instead, I aim to create a space where every part of your experience can be welcomed, including the parts that may feel uncertain, contradictory, frightened, ashamed or not yet fully understood.
Together we can stay with that complexity, allowing it to unfold at its own pace.
Often, clarity does not arrive because we have forced it. It emerges naturally when our experience has been given enough time, attention and care.
Over time, many people discover something they had almost forgotten: that they already possess a deep capacity for awareness, wisdom, integrity and growth.
Therapy is not about becoming dependent on another person's insight. It is about rediscovering your own ability to listen to yourself, trust your experience, meet life's challenges with greater compassion and become an active participant in your own life.
My hope is that therapy offers more than relief from immediate difficulties. I hope it helps you develop a relationship with yourself that is grounded, compassionate and resilient, with a growing capacity to meet life with greater courage, openness and authenticity.
Perhaps, over time, this can lead to something very simple:
a growing sense that you are enough, and that you can find your own way.
Practical details
- Sessions are 60 minutes and take place weekly
- I offer sessions in person in Cardiff and online
- Fee: £70 per session
If something here resonates with you, you are welcome to get in touch. We can arrange an initial conversation and see whether working together feels like a good fit.
