Individual Counsellor in Bath

A therapeutic relationship is unlike any other relationship; it involves 50 minutes of time dedicated to finding solutions for you; my role as your therapist is to walk alongside you on your path of self-discovery and acceptance.

My Experience Supporting Clients with Addictions

Addiction can severely limit one’s life. I work with both substance addictions (alcohol, drugs) and process addictions (gambling, pornography, food).

Most addictions initially feel good but progressively worsen over time. Despite our intentions to stop, we often feel powerless against their pull.

I use the waterfall analogy to explain recovery: When you’re at the edge, the force of cravings is powerful. In therapy, we work together to help you step away.

Key aspects of addiction recovery:

With considerable experience in addiction recovery, I’m here to help you find your path to a more fulfilling life.

Trauma Responses and Complex PTSD: How I Can Help

Living with complex PTSD is very life-limiting. I have a lot of experience working with trauma and how complex PTSD cripples people’s lives.

I work with and help people heal from living in one of the 4 Fs: Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn—these are responses to our trauma.

Although the 4 Fs might have served us well when the actual traumas were happening, it’s hard to shut them off once the trauma is over; they then become emotional flashbacks. Emotional flashbacks are re-felt emotions and reactions based on past traumas rather than memories.

This means someone can be sat in a coffee shop and suddenly feel unsafe and under threat, which has been triggered by a conscious or sometimes unconscious memory.

When we enter an emotional flashback, we might freeze. This brings feelings of being stuck or frozen, which could be physical or internal. Going into the freeze can leave us feeling hypervigilant, paranoid to people around us. In the freeze flashback, a person might look calm but inside they are feeling terror.

A person might flight, leave the area in the hope they can feel safe again. A person who has the flight response will be avoidant in their relationships, blowing hot and cold at the drop of a hat. A person with the flight response might find it hard to hold down jobs because they are forever getting spooked by someone or something and leaving.

When someone responds with fawn, they become people pleasers, saying yes when they mean no. A fawn type could become codependent, over-relying on the approval of others in a bid to feel safe. This gives a brief feeling of safety, but it is short-lived. They are continually in a state of subservience. There is a loss of self with all the four Fs, but I feel the fawn responder has the greatest detachment.

The fight responder will find it hard to be around people and possibly feel quite paranoid. The way they respond is by fighting fire with fire. This could lead someone to be violent for no apparent reason. The fight can also be by arguing with friends and partners; it is not just about physically fighting.

After a counselling session with myself, you can expect to come away feeling heard, understood, and validated. Counselling with myself can take many different forms depending on what issues you bring.