Services
I offer both in-depth and brief, focused psychotherapeutic interventions, always founded upon an open and collaborative therapeutic relationship for a full range of psychological problems.
I feel that my background in education and diverse psychiatric settings has provided me with a particular ability to form a connection with families, adolescents and adults alike, and I am passionately committed to walking with my clients on their journeys toward deeper fulfilment, stability and resilience in all areas of life.
Adult Psychotherapy
Have you ever come to a realization that the problems you or a loved one may be facing are so overwhelming or complex that you can no longer cope alone?
The past decade has seen a steady rise in the number of adults who experience depression, anxiety, and other psychological disorders in any given year. You may have been personally affected by job loss, relational problems, addiction, trauma, or the loss of a loved one that has led to an increasing sense of debilitation.
The collaborative process of psychotherapy, based upon the relationship between an individual and a trained psychologist, is an established means to overcoming a wide range of difficulties by exploring these and working to change the often destructive underlying emotional, behavioural and cognitive factors, that have developed over the course of one’s life, and build more effective strategies to cope into the future.
I begin psychotherapy with a comprehensive assessment that generally takes a single session, depending upon the complexity of the presenting issues, and allows for the generation of a clear and accessible psychological understanding of the problem that will direct the focus of the collaborative therapeutic process to follow.
Whether you are functioning well and are interested in self-exploration and personal growth, or functioning very poorly, psychotherapy will prove to be an important, albeit at times challenging, personal investment.
Visit my Areas of Special Interests page to see a list of common psychological problems that may be addressed through psychotherapy, or read more about my approach.
Couples Therapy / Marriage Counselling
Vicious cycles of destructive arguing, infidelity, separation – couples therapy can help you and your partner create a more fulfilling, resilient and nurturing relationship.
Do you ever feel that no matter how hard you try to improve your relationship you remain trapped in vicious cycles of destructive arguing? Or perhaps your relationship has been rocked by infidelity or financial difficulties? Or you may have simply grown apart as one or both of you have struggled with personal problems?
Couples therapy seeks to restore, or indeed create, resilient and nurturing intimate relationships in partners who have been experiencing significant distress and those who wish to deepen their connection.
Couples therapy is also a wonderful investment for engaged couples preparing for marriage in order to assist them in identifying potential future problems.
Following an initial assessment I draw primarily on schema therapy to explore each partner’s individual lifelong maladaptive patterns (schemas) and how these may act to maintain the conflictual dynamic within the relationship. Insight-oriented and emotion-focused strategies assist in taking couples to a place in which both partners feel better able to express their needs; as well as becoming more attuned to the emotional needs of their spouse.
Common Concerns
- Will couples therapy make my relationship even worse?
- Most couples that commit to a therapeutic process with a trained third party gain greater understanding of their relational difficulties and grow in their ability to deal with them.
- Will the therapist take sides?
- As a clinical psychologist I am committed to a professional and facilitative role and assist couples in gaining insight into the broader dysfunctional cycles that maintain their distress that are often outside of day-to-day awareness.
- What if I feel we need to see a therapist but my partner does not?
- The only way to discover how your partner truly feels is to write down the reasons you feel it is necessary and emphasize in an honest way how seriously you feel about gaining help together.
Psychotherapy for Adolescents
Anxiety, depression, behavioural problems, traumatic losses – just as adults at times become overwhelmed, so too children and teens may need professional psychological help.
During the course of growing up children and adolescents face many normal challenges in preparation for adulthood. However, just as adults at times become overwhelmed, so too children and teens may need professional psychological help, in addition to support from their families and educators, if their functioning continues to decline.
Common problems experienced by children and adolescents include specific learning disorders or intellectual disability, abnormal levels of anxiety, including separation anxiety disorder and compulsions / repetition problems, difficulties adjusting following traumatic events, such as divorce or the death of a loved one, school refusal, depression, behavioural problems, including oppositional defiant disorder, hyperactivity and attentional difficulties, including ADHD, addictions, and self-destructive behaviours, including eating disorders and self-mutilation. Often children present with complex combinations of the above.
In my work with children I make sure to perform a comprehensive clinical assessment, with input from all the relevant stakeholders, before arriving at possible intervention options. I believe in working systemically, thus closely involving parents, educators and other health professionals, such as occupational therapists, before simply engaging in child-centred therapy.
Adolescence has also become an increasingly complex developmental stage as young people attempt to establish an identity and seek greater independence in a rapidly changing world. Teens experiencing problems often feel isolated, misunderstood, insecure or resistant to seeking help. For this reason I place increased emphasis in my work with adolescents on establishing a good working connection, discussing the extent of confidentiality when dealing with the whole family and building a sense of personal motivation to engage in therapy.
My therapeutic approach with children and adolescents draws heavily on developmentally appropriate CBT, schema and relational models, with a focus on validating emotional needs, reducing self-defeating coping styles or behaviours and building a sense of mastery. Parents and teachers are also educated through the process in order to best support the intervention at home.