I offer specialist services based on my experiences and specialist training. While I will certainly understand certain aspects of your experience, our experiences will be very different. I will seek to understand things from your frame of reference. With all clients I look to seek a mutual agreement about the purpose of therapy and which tools we will use.
We can work face to face, we can work outside in Macclesfield, online via Zoom, or I offer email therapy.
A neurodivergent inclusive space
My therapy room (face-to-face or online) is a place where you can slowly learn to unmask and be authentic. You can stim freely without judgement. If you have sensory overload, overstimulation, or autistic burnout. Or if you struggle with eye contact, I can adapt my room and my approach for you. We don’t have to be sat on chairs facing each other, if that doesn’t work for you.
I believe that, although we face challenges, we do not need to be ‘fixed’ in any way. I will help you to accept and embrace your authentic self – to find your joy. My approach follows a neurodiversity-affirming model.
However, I also understand the grief and loss around diagnosis. As a trauma therapist, I acknowledge that the deficit/disorder narrative. Along with the medicalised model of autism and ADHD can be traumatising. And the heavy burden of knowing you cannot meet the demands of a neurotypical society.
You may be living with overwhelming anxiety and stress that lead to exhaustion or meltdowns. We can look to address this and find ways of self care that work for you. I am experienced in working with somatic body work, which can help an exhausted nervous system fuelled by anxiety and severe stress.
I understand how transformative it can be to talk to someone who understands living as a neurodivergent person in a world set up for neurotypical people. Whether you are formally diagnosed, have self-identified. Or you are just beginning to wonder if you might be neurodivergent, I’d love to hear from you.
Specialised trauma therapy, including women and men who have experienced domestic abuse or sexual assault
I am trained to work with trauma, including women and men who have experienced domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault. I work with people who have left difficult, controlling, or toxic relationships to help them trust their judgement and find authentic connections.
After experiencing domestic violence, people can experience symptoms associated with painful and traumatic circumstances. Anxiety, fear, shame, a loss of self and hopelessness are some of the emotions that can remain, even many years after traumatic events. Trauma can really shatter our sense of who we are.
A three stage approach:
Trauma recovery happens in three stages, and this is taken from Judith Herman’s stages of recovery.
The first stage involves establishing safety in your body. The second stage involves remembrance and mourning. The third stage is reconnection with ordinary life, finding yourself again. Working with this model, I can help you understand the mind and body connection and guide you through the process of grief and healing. Using talking, somatic work and creative work where this is safe and helpful.
Rewind Trauma Therapy and the Flash Technique
I’m trained in the Rewind technique, which I can offer as part of other therapeutic work or rewind therapy. I’m also trained in the flash technique.
Using the Rewind Trauma Therapy technique, or the flash technique we will work specifically on your trauma in the safety of the counselling room. We’re not able to forget what we have experienced. But we can work to reduce the effects of the trauma. Rewind is helpful for PTSD, flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive memories, anxiety linked to specific things/situations and panic attacks.
Rewind therapy helps people who have been in accidents, people who have witnessed or been present when traumatic events have happened, and those who have experienced abuse – single events or multiple, with phobias and extreme anxiety.
The Flash Technique is a recently developed evidenced-based therapeutic intervention for reducing the disturbance associated with traumatic or other distressing memories.
You can book sessions specifically focused on these techniques, usually 2-6 sessions or alongside other counselling or psychotherapy work.
My approach in treating trauma is also informed by the work of trauma experts Babette Rothschild, Dr. Janina Fisher, Dr. Peter Levine and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. It is not always necessary to tell the story of the trauma.
Please contact me to book a first assessment session.