You might be coping. But at what cost?
On the surface, things might still be working. You’re getting through the day, replying to messages, showing up for people and handling responsibilities. Maybe, by other people’s standards, you’re doing pretty well.
But underneath, something feels harder than it used to.
You might be exhausted in a way that rest doesn’t seem to touch. Something may have changed in your health, relationships, work, identity or circumstances. Or perhaps nothing obvious has happened at all, but you know that the way you have been living no longer feels sustainable.
You may be used to pushing through, adapting and holding everything together because you have had to.
Eventually, though, it can become difficult to ignore what that is costing you.
Counselling and Coaching
I am a person-centred psychotherapist and coach, and I offer both counselling and coaching to adults.
People come to me for many different reasons. You might be living with the impact of trauma or difficult past experiences, experiencing grief or loss, struggling with relationships, feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, adjusting to disability or chronic illness, exploring neurodivergence, or trying to understand why you no longer feel quite like yourself.
You might not know whether you need counselling or coaching. That’s okay.
Counselling can give us space to stay with what has happened, what you are experiencing now and what it means for you. Coaching may have more of a focus on where you are going, decisions you are facing, changes you want to make or how you want your life to look.
In reality, people's lives don't always divide neatly into those boxes.
Where appropriate, my work can move between counselling and coaching rather than expecting you to arrive knowing which one you need. We can talk about what you are looking for and agree together on how we work.
How I work
I work relationally and from a person-centred foundation. That means I am not here to diagnose you, tell you who you should be or hand you a list of instructions for fixing yourself.
It also doesn't mean I will simply sit, nod and occasionally ask, "And how does that make you feel?"
I am an active participant in the relationship. I will listen, reflect, wonder, notice things and, where it feels useful, gently challenge you. We can be curious together about what is happening and what you need.
Sometimes our work might involve sitting with something painful that doesn't have an immediate solution. Sometimes it might involve recognising patterns, experimenting with something different, making decisions or working out practical ways forward.
You don't need to arrive with the right words, a neatly defined problem or a goal for therapy.
We start from where you are.
The people I often work with
I have particular experience of working with people navigating trauma, burnout, long-term stress, disability, chronic illness, neurodivergence, identity changes and significant changes in life or capacity.
My work is shaped by professional experience alongside my own lived experience of disability and chronic illness. Because of this, I don't work from assumptions about what a good, productive or successful life is supposed to look like.
A little about me
I have spent more than ten years working as a coach alongside my training and work within counselling and psychotherapy. I'm also not particularly good at looking like the stereotypical therapist.
I'm tattooed, pierced, disabled and usually happiest when the music is considerably heavier than most people expect. What matters to me is creating a relationship where you don't feel you have to tidy yourself up before you arrive.
You are allowed to bring the messy, contradictory, sweary, uncertain and unfinished bits too.
If you are considering working with me, you are welcome to get in touch. You don't need to know whether you need counselling or coaching, or have a perfectly formed explanation of what is happening.
A sense that something isn't working, or that you would like somewhere to begin exploring, is enough.
