When understanding has not been enough
Thoughtful, carefully paced support for when things feel stuck, overwhelming, or hard to shift
A gentle starting point
You do not need to have clear words for what is wrong for therapy to begin.
I’m Paolo Imbalzano, a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor offering therapy in Reading and online.
Some people arrive with a sense that something has felt difficult for a long time, without being fully sure why.
You may be here because something feels persistently difficult: anxiety that does not settle, overwhelm, shutdown, disconnection, exhaustion, or relationship difficulties that keep repeating even when part of you understands them.
For some people, what feels clearest is not the kind of therapy they are looking for, but the symptoms they are living with, or the sense that trauma or chronic stress may still be shaping how they feel now.
You may already have spent a long time trying to make sense of things, and still find that something in you reacts before you can choose differently. Sometimes understanding on its own is not enough to bring lasting change.
You might recognise some of these experiences:
part of you understands what is happening, but your responses still do not shift
you find yourself pulled into anxiety, shutdown, or hypervigilance
the same relationship patterns keep repeating, even when you try hard to do things differently
Sometimes these difficulties are linked to trauma, chronic stress, or attachment wounds.
Sometimes they show up more quietly as chronic tension, people-pleasing, emotional shutdown, dissociation, hyper-independence, or a body that still expects to protect itself.
These responses are not signs of weakness. They are often ways the mind and body learned to cope, adapt, or stay safe.
Therapy can offer a space to understand these responses with care, without forcing change too quickly. Over time, that can create more room to think, feel, choose, and relate differently.
“For the first time, therapy felt steady enough for me to stay with what was hard without getting overwhelmed or shutting down.”
— Former client (anonymised)
Paolo Imbalzano
Psychotherapist & Clinical Supervisor
Relational psychotherapy · Trauma-informed practice
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) · Sensorimotor Psychotherapy · ILF neurofeedback
In person in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire · Online
UKCP Registered Psychotherapist · BACP Registered Member · CTA-P
I offer specialised relational, trauma-informed psychotherapy for adults experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, dissociation, and relationship difficulties, as well as other patterns that can feel hard to shift.
My approach is grounded in relationship and informed by trauma, attachment, and the nervous system. It includes talking therapy and body-aware work, shaped around your particular history, needs, and capacity.
Where helpful, I may also integrate ILF neurofeedback in person.
We begin with what feels most important now, at a pace your system can stay with.
If some of this feels familiar
If what you have read resonates, you are welcome to book a free 20-minute consultation.
We can talk about what feels difficult, what you hope might feel different, and whether this way of working seems like a good fit.
There is no pressure to continue.
How I work
Therapy shaped around safety, capacity, and deeper change
If you are considering therapy, you may be carrying something that feels hard to name, or finding that life has become harder to manage than it once was.
Whatever brings you here, the work is shaped around your history, your patterns, and your pace.
This is not only about insight. It is also about what happens emotionally, physically, and relationally.
The therapeutic relationship is central to how I work. It is one of the places where change begins to happen: a space where patterns can be noticed safely, understood, and gradually experienced differently.
The work is formulation-led, shaped around your particular history, needs, and capacity. Often, the first task is not to push for change, but to help life feel more manageable in the present: building stability, strengthening regulation, and creating enough safety for deeper work to become possible.
In trauma therapy, stabilisation is often part of the work itself.
Slow is often faster.
Deeper work often becomes possible gradually, as more steadiness and capacity develop.
Over time, this can support deeper and more lasting change — more capacity, more agency, and a growing sense that mind and body no longer have to work quite so hard to stay safe.
If you would like to explore further, you can begin with the reflection below, with Getting started, or by going straight to the kind of therapy that seems most relevant.
From the Reflections
Why insight alone is not always enough
Many people understand their patterns well, yet still find something does not shift.
This article explores why — and what may be needed alongside insight in therapy.
If you would like to explore therapy further
Getting started ›
A fuller introduction to my services, and guidance on where it may make most sense to begin. If what feels clearest is the impact of trauma, or the shape of your symptoms and experience, this may be the best place to begin.
Or, if you already have a sense of what you are looking for
Individual psychotherapy ›
For anxiety, low mood, self-criticism, dissociation, relationship difficulties, and other patterns that feel hard to shift.
Couple therapy ›
For conflict, distance, repeated misunderstandings, trust, connection, and painful relational patterns.
ILF neurofeedback ›
In-person support for regulation, sleep, overwhelm, reactivity, and nervous-system stability, where this seems clinically helpful.
Looking for clinical supervision instead?
If you are a therapist or practitioner looking for clinical supervision, you can read more here:
If this feels like a place to begin
If this way of working feels relevant, you are very welcome to get in touch.
You do not need to be sure before making contact.
You can simply begin with a conversation.