Frequently asked questions

Therapy can be helpful with a multitude of issues. This can include depression and anxiety, childhood issues, addiction, bereavement, relationships, work related stress, identity, sexuality, parenting, life transitions, divorce, loss, abuse and more. There is no limit to what can be explored in therapy, and ultimately it focuses on how the issues impact you as an individual, and the meaning that you give to what you’re experiencing. There can be many layers to what you might be going through and exploring these can give you a deeper understanding.

The session is your time where you are free to talk about what is important to you. Your therapist is there with you to help you understand and make sense of what how you’re feeling, without judging you or telling you what to do or think. It’s a safe space where you can talk openly and without pressure, and with the help of your therapist better understand what’s going on for you, leading to new insights about how to move forward.

Absolutely not. Seeking therapy is something that all people can benefit from, and helps in understanding one's self and life experiences.

Everyone can benefit from therapy as we all experience similar human struggles and emotions, which therapy can help us explore.

The first step is to contact us. We will then arrange a time to call you and discuss why you are seeking therapy and to assess whether we are able to help you. If we are both in agreement to proceed the next step will be for us to book an initial consultation where we can meet and discuss your current situation and what you want to gain from therapy in more depth. In the event that we are not the right service for you will aim to signpost you to an appropriate service. There is no obligation for you to go beyond this initial consultation if you choose not to.

You may have a sense of how long you wish to work in therapy for, but if not this will be explored at the initial consultation. The therapist may suggest short-term or longer-term work, depending on what it is you want to work on in therapy. You may agree to have a number of sessions, or to have sessions without fixing an end date. In any case you are always free to end sessions at any time you choose.

All therapy sessions are confidential. This means that we would never reveal your identity or disclose what you discuss in sessions. In accordance with the ethics of our profession our work must be supervised by a clinical supervisor, but we never reveal any identifiable information about you in supervision. There are some exceptional circumstances where we may break confidentiality, such as where either you or someone you are talking about is at serious risk, or in certain cases where we are obligated and bound to by law. In the event that we were considering breaking confidentiality our aim would be to discuss it with a you first, but this may not always be possible.

Weekly sessions create consistency, which is essential if you are to gain the full benefit of therapeutic work. It is therefore important that you are able to commit to attending regular sessions.

Unfortunately we do not have a waiting area, and we ask that you arrive for your session at the time it’s due to start. If you are early we may not be able to attend to you as we may be with a client.

You therapist will have their own cancellation notice period which will be discussed with you at the initial consultation. Sessions cancelled outside of this notice period need to be paid for. In the event that you need to cancel a session we ask that you let your therapist know as soon as you are able to.

The ending of therapy is an important part of the work. When you feel ready to end therapy we advise that you let your therapist know in advance so that you can plan the ending together. This may involve having an ending session, or a few sessions to end if you have been attending for a long time. The ending allows us to review the work we have done together, and gives us the time to say goodbye and bring the work to an end.

Whilst you may feel that someone close to you may benefit from having therapy, we ask that the person themselves contact us if they want to have therapy. It’s important that each person makes their own decision to have therapy, as they will be the person committing to the process. We are happy to answer any enquiries from you on the behalf of someone else, but it’s important that you have the person’s consent when doing so. For details about referring a young person see the Young People section..