"What is split off, not felt, remains the same. When it is felt, it changes" - Eugene Gendlin
Hi, I'm Anna.
I help people find relief and movement from a place of feeling 'stuck.' I specialize in working with trauma and neglect, chronic pain, shame and sex/sexuality and relationship challenges. I also work with couples. I view therapy as a process of helping my clients listen to their gut feelings, find safety and containment and feel less alone in the overwhelm. It is my hope that through speaking about difficult or taboo feelings with me, you will feel understood and accepted, and that over time you feel more powerful in how you respond to difficulty.
Psychodynamic, trauma-informed and emotionally focused therapy with couples and individuals.
What is my approach?
How does change happen?
Therapy isn't easy, but it is honest
My foundations are psychodynamic, which means I pay attention to unconscious relational processes between us and find links between what feels distressful for you in the present and what occurred in the past.
I also integrate focusing-oriented psychotherapy, where I help you put your implicit/embodied or 'felt' sense into words.
I view therapeutic change as embodied, relational and non-linear. This means I will ask about what is happening in your body and will use our relationship to help understand your longstanding ways of relating to others that you feel stuck in. Since change is experiential and felt, it has its own trajectory that is non-linear.
Therapy often involves stages of unraveling before we feel integrated and ‘ourselves’ again.
This can feel confronting and disarming as we call into question protections (i.e. addictions, denial/distortions and other defenses) that once kept us safe but are no longer helpful. The trust we foster can help carry you through periods of uncertainty.
Couples Therapy
I offer emotionally focused couples therapy (EFT) that is informed by my psychodynamic roots. My aim is to help couples track their unhelpful cycles, de-escalate conflict, become aware of and responsive to each other's attachment needs and integrate these changes experientially.
Specializations
Although I offer support for many different challenges, I have taken additional training in working with trauma and neglect, persistent pain, sex/sexuality-related concerns and relationship difficulties. I also specialize in work with couples.
Qualifications
- PG Dip. Counselling and Psychotherapy (University of Edinburgh)
- Doctorate in Psychotherapy (University of Edinburgh)
- Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (advanced training)
- Psychosexual Therapy Certificate (Tavistock)
- Facilitating Reflective Practice (Tavistock)