Whether you’re looking to begin therapy or would value a psychological assessment to better understand your difficulties, I’d love to help. Assessment offers space to consider the available options together. My main approaches are listed below:
Neurodivergent experiences, including burnout, overwhelm and internalised shame
You might not know exactly what is going on, but feel stuck, confused or unsure. That is welcome here too. We are not always consciously aware of what is shaping our feelings or responses. Together, we can gently get to know what you are experiencing, at your own pace.
Therapies I offer
Cognitive behavioural approaches
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
My foundation is in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), shaped by four years of clinical work within NHS Talking Therapies as both a therapist and supervisor.
CBT explores the relationship between our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, physical sensations and behaviours, and how these can interact to create patterns that keep challenges going.
Together, we can gently map out these patterns to develop a clearer understanding of what you are experiencing and what may be maintaining it. This might include how you respond to difficult thoughts and feelings, the things you avoid or feel driven to do, and the beliefs you have developed about yourself, others or the world around you.
From there, we can begin to explore and experiment with different, more flexible ways of responding. CBT is practical and collaborative, focusing on meaningful strategies that can be applied in everyday life.
Where clinically appropriate, I may also draw on the following approaches alongside CBT to support the areas that are most relevant to you.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
DBT-informed skills can help with managing intense emotions, tolerating distress, practising mindfulness and navigating relationships.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT helps us develop a more flexible relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings while taking steps towards what matters to us.
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
CFT supports a kinder response to shame and self-criticism, helping us develop compassion towards ourselves and others.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a compassionate, non-pathologising approach that offers a different way of understanding our inner world.
IFS recognises that we can experience different “parts” of ourselves, each with their own thoughts, feelings, perspectives and protective roles. You might recognise parts such as the perfectionist, people-pleaser, inner critic, or a part that tends to avoid, control or shut down difficult feelings.
Rather than viewing these parts as problems that need to be eliminated, IFS invites us to approach them with curiosity and compassion. We can explore how certain patterns may have developed, what a particular part may be trying to protect you from, and what might lie beneath these protective responses. In IFS, some parts may carry painful or difficult experiences and emotions, sometimes referred to as exiles, while other parts develop protective strategies to keep these experiences at a distance.
The aim isn’t to fight, silence or get rid of parts of ourselves, but to understand them and develop a different relationship with them. IFS also works with the idea of Self: a grounded, compassionate part of all of us that can approach our inner experiences with qualities such as curiosity, calmness and compassion.
Over time, this can support a more compassionate relationship with yourself and greater flexibility in how you respond to challenging internal experiences. For some people, this offers a way of working with experiences that can feel difficult to access through insight and talking alone.
I see IFS as deeply relational. We both bring presence and curiosity as we get to know your parts, at a pace that feels right for you. This may include exploring attachment, early childhood experiences and how these have shaped the ways your parts protect you today.
My approach also pays attention to the body, sometimes called a somatic focus. Alongside thoughts and emotions, we may gently notice sensations, tension or shifts in how you feel physically. I tend to recommend IFS as a slightly longer-term approach, allowing time for trust to develop and for this work to unfold.
I am due to complete my Level 1 IFS training in January 2027 and will continue to integrate IFS thoughtfully alongside my CBT-based practice, drawing on each approach where it feels clinically appropriate and most helpful for you.
No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz is also a gentle and accessible introduction to the IFS model and its understanding of our different parts, including the ways they can develop protective roles in response to our experiences.
