I work integratively, and not in a solution-focused way. At the moment I draw on two main approaches, psychodynamic and person-centred, and I'll explain a bit about each below because people often ask. But what it means on paper matters less than what actually happens in the room.
I lead with empathy. Not as a technique, but as the place I start from every time, because without it nothing else really works.
What I offer is a calm space, and a genuinely non-judgemental one. In practice that means I'm not assessing you, not quietly deciding what your problem is, and not waiting for my turn to speak. Nothing you bring will be too much, or too small.
Psychodynamic therapy is based on the idea that a lot of what drives us sits below our awareness. Much of it was laid down early.
Childhood is a particular interest of mine. Not because everything traces back to it neatly, but because so much of how we relate to people now was learned then, before we had any language for it. What you had to do to be okay in your family. What got you attention, and what got you nothing. What wasn't safe to feel out loud. Those lessons don't announce themselves; they just quietly become how you are.
So in sessions we pay attention to the patterns. How you talk about the people in your life, what you find yourself doing again and again, what your body does when a subject comes close. The story you tell about yourself, and where that story came from. And what runs through families and cultures, inherited without anyone agreeing to it, still shaping how you understand yourself.
None of that is about digging for its own sake, or catching you out. Most of those patterns started as protection, at a time when you needed protecting, and understanding that is usually far more useful than fighting it. The point is to help you notice things, so that you have more awareness to work with. Having that awareness is what makes it possible to respond differently, if and when you want to, rather than repeating what you've always done.
Where the psychodynamic side looks back, the person-centred side works with what's here now, in the room, between us.
It starts from the belief that you're the one who knows your own life. There's a term for the core of it, unconditional positive regard, which in practice simply means I'm not sitting in judgement of you. Not of what you bring, not of what you've done, not of how long it's taken you to get here. You lead and I follow.
It also asks something of me. To be real with you rather than hiding behind a professional manner, and to be honest even when the comfortable thing would be easier. I'd rather sit with what's actually true for you than tidy it into something neater. I don't come with an agenda, and I don't work to a timeframe.
What this looks like is different for everyone, and there's no single right way to do therapy. Some people want to understand where things came from, and the psychodynamic side comes forward. Some people need, first of all, to be heard, and that's where the person-centred side leads. Most of the time it's a mix, and it shifts week to week depending on what you need.
But the two meet in a fairly consistent place. Something is happening in your life now, a pattern in a relationship, a reaction that seems bigger than the moment deserves, a feeling you can't account for. And often, when we stay with it long enough, it turns out to have a history. Something learned in a family, or in childhood, or somewhere further back than that.
Seeing that connection is usually the point at which things start to feel less confusing. Not resolved, but less confusing.
I'd rather say this honestly. Therapy can be a bit of a rollercoaster, and things sometimes come up that you hadn't expected to be there. That's not a sign anything's gone wrong. It's usually a sign we've reached something that matters.
We go at your pace, and I hold all of you in mind while we do it. Your history, your body, your culture, your spirit.
If you'd like to talk, I'm here.