Relational trauma-informed psychotherapy in Reading and online
When understanding alone has not been enough
Carefully paced, relational psychotherapy for anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, and relationship patterns that may keep returning, even when you have tried hard to understand or change them
Sessions are available in person in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire, and online.
A place to begin
You do not need to have clear words for what is wrong for therapy to begin.
You may be here because something has felt difficult for a long time: anxiety that does not settle, overwhelm that comes quickly, shutdown, disconnection, exhaustion, or relationship patterns that keep repeating.
Sometimes what feels most real is not a therapy category, but the impact these patterns are having on daily life.
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.
Therapy can offer a steady place to begin noticing these responses with care, without forcing change too quickly.
This may be for you if
You might recognise some of these experiences:
part of you understands what is happening, but your responses still do not shift
you are pulled into anxiety, shutdown, dissociation, or hypervigilance
the same relationship patterns keep repeating, despite your efforts to do things differently
you have already done a lot of thinking, reflecting, or therapy, but still feel caught in familiar responses
you want therapy that pays attention not only to insight, but also to the body, nervous system, and relational experience
These difficulties are often linked to trauma, chronic stress, or attachment wounds.
They may also show up more quietly as chronic tension, people-pleasing, emotional shutdown, 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.
Over time, therapy can help create more room to think, feel, choose, and relate differently.
Paolo Imbalzano
Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor
I offer specialist relational, trauma-informed psychotherapy for adults experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, dissociation, trauma, and relationship difficulties.
My work is grounded in relationship and informed by trauma, attachment, and the nervous system. I integrate talking therapy with body-aware approaches, shaped around your particular history, needs, and capacity.
Where helpful, I may also include ILF neurofeedback in person.
I work in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire, and online.
UKCP Registered Psychotherapist · UKCP Registered Clinical Supervisor
BACP Registered Member · CTA-P
If some of this feels familiar
If what you have read resonates, you are welcome to arrange a free 20-minute consultation.
We can talk about what feels difficult, what you hope might become different, and whether this way of working could support you.
There is no pressure to continue.
How I work
Therapy shaped around safety, capacity, and deeper change
My work is not only about insight. It also pays attention to what happens emotionally, physically, and relationally — especially when old patterns are activated.
The therapeutic relationship is central. It offers a place where patterns can be noticed safely, understood, and gradually met differently.
The work is formulation-led and paced around your needs and capacity. Often, this means first building enough stability and regulation for deeper work to become possible.
In trauma therapy, stabilisation is not a delay to the work. It is part of the work.
Over time, this can support deeper change — with more capacity, more agency, and less need for the mind and body to work so hard to stay safe.
Why this work may feel different
This is not a fixed protocol applied in the same way to everyone.
The work is shaped around your particular history, patterns, nervous-system capacity, and therapeutic goals. For some people, the early focus is on steadiness and regulation. For others, deeper trauma processing or relational work may become possible sooner.
Where helpful, I may draw on approaches such as Deep Brain Reorienting, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, parts-informed work, Transactional Analysis, and ILF neurofeedback.
These are used within one relational therapeutic process, rather than as separate techniques.
The aim is not simply to understand why patterns developed, but to support change in a way that can be felt more deeply — in the body, in relationships, and in daily life.
Explore further
You may find it helpful to begin with one of these pages, depending on what feels closest to what brings you here.
For anxiety, low mood, self-criticism, dissociation, trauma, relationship difficulties, and other patterns that feel hard to shift.
A fuller introduction to my services, and guidance on where it may make most sense to begin.
For conflict, distance, repeated misunderstandings, trust, connection, and painful relational patterns.
In-person support for regulation, sleep, overwhelm, reactivity, and nervous-system stability.
For therapists and practitioners looking for reflective, relational, trauma-informed supervision.
If this feels like a good place to begin
You do not need to be certain before making contact. We can simply begin with a conversation.