Individual therapy in Reading and online
Relational therapy for patterns that are difficult to shift
Relational, body-aware therapy for anxiety, overwhelm, stuckness, relationship difficulties, and recurring ways of coping shaped by stress, past experience, or trauma.
Sessions are available in person in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire, and online.
You may be reaching out because of emotional shutdown, disconnection, painful relationship patterns, anxiety, overwhelm, or a sense that things are not shifting despite insight, effort, or previous therapy.
Emotional shutdown can sometimes feel like going blank, withdrawing, losing access to words, functioning on the outside while feeling collapsed inside, or entering a protective shutdown mode when stress, closeness, or pressure becomes too much.
Insight matters, but it is not always enough.
Some patterns are held not only in thought, but also in the body, relationships, and nervous-system responses that happen before there is time to think.
My work is relational and body-aware. We pay attention to what you understand, what you feel, what happens in your body, and what becomes activated in relationship.
The aim is not simply to understand the pattern, but to create enough safety and capacity for something different to become possible.
For a fuller explanation of the principles that shape my work, see:
This may be for you if
You may recognise that:
anxiety, shutdown, shame, or overwhelm keep returning
relationship patterns feel difficult to shift
you understand some of what happens, but still react automatically under stress
your body seems to stay on alert, collapse, or disconnect
previous therapy or self-reflection helped, but did not fully reach the deeper pattern
you are looking for therapy that is careful, relational, and deeper than symptom management alone
This way of working tends to suit people who are looking for depth, careful pacing, and a therapeutic relationship in which patterns can be understood over time.
If you recognise your experience more through symptoms such as anxiety, shutdown, overwhelm, dissociation, relationship patterns, or exhaustion, you may also find this page helpful:
How we begin
The first step is usually a free 20-minute consultation. This gives us a chance to talk briefly about what is happening, what you are looking for, and whether this way of working may be a good fit.
If we decide to begin, the early sessions help us understand what is troubling you, how it affects your life, and what kind of therapeutic focus may be most useful.
We do not need to decide too quickly which method is needed, or rush into painful material before there is enough capacity for the work.
The aim is to develop an initial shared formulation: a working understanding of what may be contributing to your difficulties, what keeps them going, and what may help.
For a fuller overview of the first steps, you may also find Getting started helpful:
What to expect in sessions
Early sessions often focus on helping life feel more understandable and manageable.
Together, we may make sense of what you are experiencing, notice patterns and triggers, and identify what helps between sessions.
Sessions may include talking, reflecting on relationship patterns, noticing bodily responses, working with emotions as they arise, or reviewing what feels different between sessions.
The balance depends on what you need and what your system can manage.
Some sessions are more practical. Others move into deeper emotional or trauma-related work when there is enough capacity for that.
We keep paying attention to what helps, what feels too much, and what may need to be adjusted.
How the process may unfold
Therapy does not always move in a straight line
After the first sessions, we usually have a clearer sense of the initial therapeutic direction. This may include what to prioritise, how to support regulation where needed, and how we will review progress.
For some people, the work can move into deeper emotional or trauma-related material relatively soon.
For others, the first phase may need to focus on stabilisation, sleep, arousal regulation, relational safety, or reducing overwhelm before deeper work becomes possible.
Stabilisation is not a delay to therapy. When the nervous system is under strain, it is often what makes deeper work possible.
As stability improves, deeper work may become more tolerable and effective. This may include working with unresolved trauma, relational patterns, protective responses, self-criticism, shame, grief, or parts of the self that have had to adapt under pressure.
In my practice, deeper work is not about forcing disclosure or pushing into overwhelming material. It is about working carefully with what is ready to be met, so that change can happen without flooding, collapse, or shutdown.
Over time, therapy may support:
more choice and flexibility in daily life
less pull towards old reactions
greater capacity to feel without becoming overwhelmed or shut down
more self-trust and self-compassion
clearer boundaries and more satisfying relationships
a stronger sense of being able to stay present with yourself and others
If trauma, chronic stress, or nervous-system strain feel central to what you are living with, you may also wish to read more here:
Approaches I integrate
My primary training is in Relational Transactional Analysis, and I integrate additional approaches where they genuinely fit the person, the work, and the pace your nervous system can stay with.
Depending on your needs, this may include Deep Brain Reorienting, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, parts-informed work, EMDR-informed understanding, and ILF neurofeedback.
These approaches sit within one relational, trauma-informed process. They are not applied as a fixed formula.
If you would like a fuller sense of the approaches I integrate and how they are brought together within one way of working, you can read more here:
Neurofeedback alongside psychotherapy
For some people, adding ILF neurofeedback in person can support stabilisation, particularly with sleep, arousal regulation, emotional reactivity, and overall self-regulation.
It may be useful when sleep difficulties, overwhelm, high reactivity, brain fog, fatigue, or difficulty settling are making daily life, and therapy itself, harder to manage.
At other times, therapy on its own may be the better place to begin.
The question is whether neurofeedback is likely to be helpful at this stage, and we review this carefully if it becomes part of the work.
Practicalities
Adults aged 16+
Sessions available in person in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire
Online sessions available via Zoom
Sessions are typically 50 minutes
Sessions are usually weekly
Longer sessions may be arranged where clinically appropriate
Where longer sessions are agreed, they are charged proportionally, based on the applicable fee for a 50-minute session.
For current fees and practical arrangements, please see:
For common questions about starting therapy, how the process works, and what to expect, the FAQ may be helpful.
Is this the right fit?
You do not need to know exactly where to begin. Some people come with a clear sense of what they want to work on. Others arrive unsure, and we begin there.
My way of working is exploratory, relational, body-aware, and often longer-term. It tends to suit people looking for something more than symptom relief or a purely structured, skills-based approach.
It may not be the right level of support if you are currently in acute crisis, need emergency help, or require intensive support beyond what weekly therapy can provide.
A free 20-minute consultation is a chance to talk briefly about what is happening, what you are looking for, and whether this way of working may be a good fit.
There is no pressure to continue beyond the consultation.