Services
Do you sometimes feel that life is an endless cycle of anxiety, stress or overwhelm? That getting motivated about your day is a struggle? Perhaps you’re visiting this page because you’d like to see if counselling would be of benefit to you or how therapy might help. Speaking with a mental health professional in a confidential space can help you navigate through any feelings of concern and begin to understand your mental wellbeing, relationships, behaviour patterns, beliefs or somatic responses on a much deeper level. Therapy facilitates a sense of genuinely relating with others and connecting with all aspects of yourself so you can be more present in your life.
I work with you in co-creating a therapeutic relationship that provides the right conditions for crafting growth and change. Side-effects of therapy may involve you finding your voice, understanding what your authentic self is trying to communicate or learning where and how to create healthy boundaries in relationships or at work.
MY FEES:
- Direct payment
Online Consultation
- Online consultations offered
I AM FLUENT IN:
- English
I WORK WITH:
- Adolescents
- Adults
- Couples
- Groups
- Parents
CORE SERVICES:
- Counselling
- Psychotherapy
SCOPE OF PRACTICE:
- Anxiety Disorders
- Relationship Problems
- Trauma
Approach
What should you expect?
Counselling can help in many ways. Having a regular appointment where you can discuss, explore and understand what’s happening for you can feel very grounding and holding. Knowing that this space is just for you. Some clients consider therapy as being part of their self-care, ensuring that mental wellbeing is taken care of. A little like going to the gym, but for the mind. It’s consistency, commitment and a willingness to be open to changes in life that determines the results you’ll see.
You may have a specific goal in therapy to work towards. Or you may find that what you originally came to therapy for has now morphed into something else, an underlying or unresolved aspect of your Self. You and I will work with whatever you bring to the room.
After considering that you’d like to work with me, you can contact me via my contact form or email me with your enquiry. We can then arrange a convenient day and time for us to have an initial 10 minute chat on the phone, which is an opportunity for you to ask any questions or to check out any concerns. On our call, we’ll arrange a day and time for you to have your first session.
These initial steps may seem daunting – after all, I’m a total stranger to you. So having a flutter of anxiety or second-thoughts is perfectly natural! In our first session, I’ll spend about 10 minutes at the beginning explaining a little more about our ‘contract’ before the remainder of the session is yours. The contract is an agreement between you and I, so you know my legal and ethical obligations, how to contact me, who I answer to etc. It’s more of an agreement for you & I to commence working together. As we come to the end of our first session, I’ll gently remind you that you have what’s effectively a ‘cooling off period’. That is, I think it’s healthy that you take a couple of days to reflect on whether I’m the therapist for you before we commit to our weekly sessions. And that’s it – first session complete.
From there, we’ll set up our ongoing sessions and all future sessions are yours for the whole 50 minutes – there’s no paperwork after the first session.
How to use psychotherapy
Part of therapy is an increase in self-awareness, becoming more aware of our reactions to situations or people, identifying the connected emotions and understanding them. I see our work as collaborative and sometimes I may suggest a book to read, mindfulness or another tool that might guide you to a greater sense of Self. I work creatively and I’m interested in the stories we tell of ourselves. Often, I may use imagery, metaphor, dreams and interventions so we can explore your sense of Self through a holistic lens. Ultimately, I believe in the transformative power of connection.
Modalities in which I work
I work from a humanistic modality & I'm an EMDR therapist - which means that I believe in the human propensity to work towards growth when a facilitative environment is created. In this case, the facilitating environment is our therapeutic relationship.
Book with Joanne Aldred
