Hello and welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my website. I hope you will find the information interesting and encouraging, particularly the "about" and "what I offer" sections.

Taking the first step into psychotherapy can be anxiety provoking! My aim is to welcome you and put you at ease. Cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR are wonderful therapeutic approaches which I know will be of benefit to you, enabling you to gain a fresh understanding of your thoughts, emotions and behaviours and how these may be contributing to your problems.

Please contact me for a brief conversation to discuss your needs and how I can help you.

Services

You may have a clear knowledge of what will help you or we can discuss which therapeutic approach will help you to meet your goals.

CBT

CBT explores your thinking styles and patterns, how they established, what drives and maintains them and how these effect your emotions and behaviour. Often we become "stuck" responding to situations in the same unhelpful way leading to depression, anxiety, low self-worth and more. CBT can be liberating, putting you in a position of control and mastery over your own problems, difficulties and challenges.

"Awareness is the first step in writing old stories"

Arthur P. Ciaramicoli

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapeutic approach that can help you to recover from current problems like flashbacks, upsetting thoughts, images, depression or anxiety that have their origins in childhood memories. Like CBT, EMDR is recognised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, EMDR is shown to be an effective treatment for a range of psychological problems and can help you to be free of ongoing distress.

“EMDR is based on the idea that negative thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and behaviours are the result of unprocessed memories.”

Laurel Parnell

Many counsellors describe themselves as "person-centred", others "integrative". Person-centred counsellors follow the work of Carl Rogers with a focus on finding ones true potential by developing new insights and exploring internal and often unspoken points of tension. Integrative counsellors utilise other therapeutic ideas and tools. If you would like counselling I will be able to provide this less structured approach in helping you to gain new personal insights and strengths to move towards a brighter future.

Helping is about constructive change that leads to results, outcomes, and accomplishments that are life-enhancing.

Gerard Egan

Counselling

Therapy for you...

You may be wanting to reduce the intensity of your problems, cope better, increase-self-awareness and insight, process trauma and past experiences, improve relationships. Or you want to change unhelpful thoughts patterns and behaviours, reduce worry , improve sleep and become better at problem solving? all these symptoms and more are achievable by working together, in partnership.

There are however areas of my work that I particularly aim to focus or promote, please see below. Whatever you are experiencing, please don't struggle, contact me and we can develop a treatment plan to support your recovery.

Trauma

CBT and EMDR for professionals

You may be a first responder, experienced combat, been in a road traffic accident, assaulted or you may have experienced childhood trauma. These may be "one off" events or multiple traumatic events that have had a lasting negative impact on your mental health stretching over many years. Using CBT or EMDR I will be able to help you to overcome these difficulties and reduce the distressful symptoms that you are experiencing today. We will work together in reducing the intensity of difficult memories, so that these can be "stored" in the same way other everyday memories are stored and freeing you from symptoms such as flashbacks and nightmares. Please don't struggle contact me.

I have and will continue to successfully offer CBT and EMDR psychotherapies to a varied and diverse population, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, disability, age (16+) and neurodiversity. I am however keen to encourage men to seek mental health support, including CBT and EMDR. If you are a man, hesitant to discuss your problems and emotions please don't avoid psychological help whoever you choose to work with. If you choose to work with me I will provide you with a safe space and encourage you to open up your problems so that you can stop being alone and move forwards, better able to address the stressors we as men may experience personally and professionally.

Men

Whatever your business or profession, being at the top of your game can bring both personal and professional challenges. This may relate to performance, or perceived lack of it, sense of self as an impostor with low confidence. Alongside these conditions internal drivers may be pushing you ever more to seek perfection which in turn leaves you feeling stressed and fatigued. Having been in professional and senior management roles, I am able to "walk the talk" when it comes to understanding some of the challenges you may be experiencing. Using CBT and EMDR, I can help you to understand your problem psychologically. We can discuss unhelpful thinking styles and behaviours and develop treatment strategies leading to better personal performance in your professional and personal life.

Remote and in-person CBT

Remote therapy took off during the COVID 19 pandemic. Traditionally, talking therapies are delivered in-person.

Remote therapy is now an established and effective delivery approach, partly as a result of that pandemic and also due to technological advances. There is increasing evidence as to the benefits of remote therapy (BABCP). Benefits include increased accessibility, flexibility and convenience for you, particularly if you have other life and career demands.

Remote therapy

I offer in-person CBT sessions at Therapy Spaces Cheshire, 45 Pickford Street, Macclesfield press the button below for more information).

If you would like in-person CBT sessions then please contact me to discuss availability.

In-person CBT