How I work
My style is interactive and here-and-now focused (relational). I seek to engage my clients in a dialogue about how the quality of our therapeutic relationship and how it informs and shapes our sense of self in the world. I integrate the latest research in interpersonal neuroscience, attachment, and factors that influence the outcome in therapy.
I pay attention to mutually agreed goals and treatment direction and continuous reflection on the quality of the therapeutic relationship. The psychotherapy relationship offers the perfect experimental laboratory in which to explore themes around safety, closeness, intimacy, and attachment.
I find that many clients suffering from anxiety disorders benefit from understanding what is going on in their brain and body as they experience the familiar bodily reactions associated with this emotion. When appropriate I teach clients about executive functions, sympathetic arousal (flight or fight behaviours), the two different memory systems based in the limbic system, body/brain communication and the role of attachment and pro-social behaviour in emotion regulation.