Launch blog
I am really excited to be launching my local psychotherapy and transformational coaching business. However, if I am being honest, it feels bitter-sweet. On the one hand, I passionately believe in everyone’s capacity and strength to find their own happiness, peace, success and self-growth. Conversely, I am alert to the cultural, familial, political and media-related barriers to achieving that. If we lived in a blissful bubble where strong levels of self-belief and confidence were impenetrable and where our loved ones and colleagues offered copious amounts of support, love and encouragement, the role of psychotherapists and coaches would be unnecessary. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful!
Unfortunately, the harsh reality for many of us is that we live in a world where there is discrimination, judgement, criticism, aggression and love feels conditional rather than unconditional. We also find ourselves in a national and local community where the value of mental health has been under-valued and misunderstood, and mental illness has a stigma attached to it, where individuals who are struggling psychologically can be seen as abnormal, weak or broken. This is not a context where vulnerability and courage to voice our fears or concerns regarding our emotional and mental wellbeing feels safe for many individuals.
This backdrop is pleasingly changing. Amazing charities, such as Heads Together, Mind, Time to Change and NHS initiatives, such as Every Mind Matters, are trying to address this. They offer a fantastic array of awareness-raising initiatives, self-help articles and support groups. I applaud the passion and expertise of all the individuals involved in these initiatives. However, as with many cultural shifts, gaining momentum and embedding new beliefs is slow. That’s where an individual psychotherapeutic or coaching relationship can be invaluable.
Imagine a unique and deep relationship where the whole focus is on you, on uncovering what your challenges and demons are, what you want in your life and how to achieve it. Therapy and coaching provide a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space to re-find your individual strength and re-frame personal perceptions and assumptions about the past/ future that may be disabling you.
My therapy and coaching clients come to me feeling stuck or confused, anxious or fearful, emotionally numb, frustrated or restrained, under achieving, without clear identity, low in self-confidence or esteem, lacking purpose, full of grief or regret, depressed, hopeless, angry, lost or trapped in the past. Through the therapeutic and coaching journey I have received feedback that clients leave feeling empowered and full of clarity, calm and peaceful, emotionally aware and connected, unfettered and free, high achieving, full of self-worth and belief, a strong sense of purpose and identity, healed, joyful and hopeful, composed, focused on the present and future with less self-judgement and greater self-assurance.
