Psychodynamic Counselling

Psychodynamic counselling has a long and rich history of alleviating distress, facilitating personal growth, deepening self-awareness, and growing self-compassion, helping individuals to lead fuller, more authentic, less burdened lives. It is an in-depth psychotherapeutic form of counselling suited to discovering the roots of your problems and improving your psychological wellbeing (where other therapeutic approaches may focus on surface symptoms only). Due to the depth of this approach there is no imposed limit on the number of sessions undertaken, with sessions consistently taking place once or twice weekly and lasting 50 minutes each. Psychodynamic therapy is shown by research to have high effectiveness with lasting, long-term benefits that continue to increase beyond the end of sessions.

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This form of therapy recognises the influence of a dynamic unconscious; that is, an unconscious part of our minds which informs our automatic behaviours, thoughts, feelings and perceptions, based on our past experiences. Accordingly, in addition to exploring your current experiences together, we value thinking about past experiences that may have informed painful or restricting narratives about the world and yourself. These felt senses and ideas, many of which form in our very earliest years, become part of our 'blueprint'; our unconscious way of perceiving and interacting with the world, others, and ourselves. It is in considering our own blueprints that we can come to know ourselves more fully, gain autonomy, and gain freedom to make new choices in our lives.

We might find that we naturally and gradually consider together the life experiences that have been impactful for you. It may be that powerful emotions such as grief, anger, despair, or fear are carried within you following these experiences, perhaps even in an unconscious 'blind spot'. Likewise, we might too spend time reflecting on experiences which have brought you great joy and contentment. In the natural development of our relationship, you may feel able to explore such experiences, where any and all accompanying emotions feel welcome in our compassionate, attentive space.

Psychodynamic counselling is collaborative and explorative and invites you to speak freely about whatever thoughts or feelings come to you in the moment, and so there is no set agenda for sessions. It pays caring and thoughtful attention to your felt experience, and is curious about language, symbolism and metaphor which may help us to understand your unconscious communication and the meaning behind elements of your experiences. There is no homework or exercises to undertake; all of our work takes place within sessions. The process is necessarily organic, experiential, and individual to you.