Therapy with me moves at the pace it needs to, not the pace you might expect. We will build a relationship before we touch anything difficult, because trauma work simply doesn't happen safely without one
Getting Started
Before we book anything in, we'll usually have a brief conversation by phone, video call or email; whatever suits you best. I'll ask what's brought you to therapy, what you're hoping will be different and whether you've tried therapy before. It's a chance for both of us to work out if I'm the right fit for you. If it feels right, I'll send over some forms to get you set up properly, along with terms and conditions.
Getting to Know You
The first few sessions will focus on understanding your story. There’s no rushing to fix anything, instead I’ll ask lots of questions and take time to properly understand what's happened and how it's shaped you. After we start making sense of your difficulties together, we can then start to build a treatment plan. I find that Schema Therapy provides a useful framework that helps people understand themselves in a way that genuinely resonates. If it’s useful, we can also se questionnaires to get a clearer picture of your symptoms. Some people find this helpful, others prefer not to, and that's entirely your choice.
Sometimes it's clear early on if EMDR alone is the right fit, particularly when your difficulties link back to one event or a small number of specific memories. For others, especially where there's a longer or more complex history, an integrative approach works best where I combine EMDR with schema-informed work.
What Therapy Looks Like
If EMDR is the main approach
The preparation phase of EMDR is best understood through metaphors. The goal is to get through the ‘trauma tunnel’ in our ‘EMDR car’, where you’re the driver and I’m just giving the directions. Before we set off, we need to make sure the car is properly kitted out. This might mean we need a couple of extra people sitting in the back, or some things packed in the boot in case we get stuck.
In practice, this means we start by building your own sense of safety and the internal resources you'll need for the work ahead. This might include specific coping skills or developing 'resource figures', which are rela or imagined sources of strength and support you can draw on if things get difficult. We only move into processing the difficult memories once you’re ready to do so. As we drive through the trauma tunnel, we work through the distress attached to these memories before we change the meaning of those memories so they no longer feel the same. We then reassess and if we need to, we go again. The length of time this takes varies depending on what we're working with, but many people notice a real reduction in distress fairly quickly.
If We’re Working More Integratively
If the concepts presented within the Schema Therapy framework resonate with you, we can draw on them more to make sense of where certain patterns, emotional states and reactions come from, whilst connecting with the vulnerability sitting beneath them. I use imagery rescripting to link the present with past experiences, and chairwork to help understand the different parts of yourself so they are easier to work with. I will often use these techniques in the preparation phase of EMDR, or sometimes whilst processing to help move you forward and navigate any blocks. The two approaches work well together, with one research study finding that both EMDR and imagery based schema work led to similarly large, lasting improvements in trauma symptoms, and the deeper personality level patterns underneath them (Daniëls et al., 2025). Both approaches are genuinely effective and the right starting point depends on you
How long does it take?
What changes?
Sessions last for 50 minutes. You’ll always have the freedom to decide how long you’d like to continue therapy. Some people come for a few sessions to focus on a specific issue, while others choose longer-term work to explore things in more depth.
If you’re seeing me through an insurance provider, sessions will usually have a limit, and we will talk about what that means for us early on.
People often describe it simply: what happened stops running the show. They can think about difficult memories without being overwhelmed, and something starts to shift in how they feel about themselves, sometimes in how they see the world.