Relational trauma-informed psychotherapy in Reading and online
When understanding alone has not been enough
Carefully paced, relational psychotherapy for anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, and recurring patterns.
Presenting Past Psychotherapy is the independent clinical practice of Paolo Imbalzano, UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor, offering therapy in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire and online.
Carefully paced
At a speed your system can work with.
Relational
Patterns are explored through safety and trust.
Body-aware
Attention to bodily and emotional responses, as well as thought and meaning.
Formulation-led
Shaped around your history, needs, and capacity.
A place 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 or disconnection
exhaustion
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 may recognise that:
familiar reactions continue despite your efforts to change them
anxiety, shutdown, dissociation, overwhelm, or hypervigilance affect daily life
relationship patterns keep repeating despite your efforts
you are looking for therapy that attends to thought, emotion, bodily experience and relationship
How we begin
The first step is usually a free 20-minute consultation. This gives us a chance to talk briefly about what brings you here and whether my way of working may be a good fit.
If we decide to begin, the early sessions help us understand what is troubling you, what kind of support may be needed first, and how to work at a pace your system can manage.
There is no obligation to continue after the consultation.
Practical information
Sessions are available in person in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire, and online.
Access note: The Shinfield therapy room currently has no wheelchair access or accessible toilet. Please let me know if you have access requirements before arranging an in-person appointment.
Therapy and clinical supervision are available in English or Italian.
You can read more about fees and practical arrangements, or contact me to arrange a free 20-minute consultation.
About me
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 embodied experience. I integrate talking therapy with body-aware approaches, shaped around your particular history, needs, and current capacity to engage with difficult experience at a manageable pace.
UKCP-registered psychotherapist and clinical supervisor · BACP-registered member and supervisor · Certified Transactional Analyst (Psychotherapy)
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 steady place where patterns can be noticed safely, understood, and gradually met differently.
I work in a formulation-led way. This means therapy is guided by a careful understanding of your history, patterns, triggers, and needs, rather than by applying one fixed method.
Where appropriate, I may draw on approaches such as Deep Brain Reorienting, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, parts-informed work, Transactional Analysis, and Neurofeedback.
The aim is not simply to understand patterns, but to create the conditions for meaningful and lasting change.
Explore further
Depending on what brings you here, you may want to begin with:
Getting started ›
A first place to orient yourself if you are unsure where to begin.
Individual therapy ›
For anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, self-criticism, trauma, dissociation, and recurring relational patterns.
Trauma therapy ›
For trauma, chronic stress, hypervigilance, shutdown, dissociation, and nervous-system responses that still feel active now.
Couple therapy ›
For couples wanting to understand repeating patterns, conflict, distance, rupture, or loss of connection.
Neurofeedback ›
In-person nervous-system regulation training, used alongside psychotherapy where appropriate.
For professionals
Clinical supervision ›
Reflective, relational, trauma-informed supervision for psychotherapists and counsellors.
If this feels like a good place to begin
A free 20-minute consultation offers a simple first step if you would like to consider whether working together may be appropriate.