SCHEMA THERAPY

 Schema therapy is a type of counselling that helps people understand and change long-standing patterns in how they think, feel, and behave—especially ones that started in childhood and continue to cause problems in adult life. These patterns, called “schemas,” might lead someone to feel unworthy, unloved, or fearful of being rejected or abandoned. Schema therapy helps people recognise these patterns, understand where they came from, and learn healthier ways to cope and relate to others. It often includes powerful techniques like imagery and chair work to help process emotions and past experiences. A strong, supportive relationship with the therapist is central to the process, offering a safe space to explore deep emotional needs and begin healing. 

EMDR is a type of therapy designed to help people heal from distressing or traumatic experiences. When something overwhelming happens, the brain sometimes doesn’t fully process the memory, and it can get “stuck,” causing ongoing emotional pain, flashbacks, or anxiety. EMDR helps the brain reprocess these memories in a way that feels less upsetting. During a session, the therapist guides the person to briefly focus on a traumatic memory while using eye movements or other forms of gentle, rhythmic stimulation (like tapping). This helps the brain reprocess the memory properly, reducing its emotional charge and allowing the person to feel more at peace with what happened. EMDR is often used for trauma, but it can also help with anxiety, grief, phobias, and more. 

EFT  is a mind-body method that helps reduce emotional distress by combining gentle tapping on specific acupuncture points with focused attention on an issue—such as a troubling thought, memory, or feeling. EFT helps calm the body’s stress response, making it easier to process difficult emotions and feel more at ease. It’s often used for anxiety, trauma, phobias, stress, and other emotional challenges, and can be a powerful self-help tool as well as a therapy technique. 

DBR  is a trauma therapy that works with the deepest part of the brain—the brainstem—where many emotional patterns and trauma responses begin. It is especially helpful for healing long-standing emotional wounds and early life experiences that leave us feeling fear, shame, or disconnection. A DBR session starts with grounding . Then, with your therapist’s support, you focus on a  memory while paying attention to physical tension in your forehead, eyes, and the base of your skull—called "orienting tension." This tension becomes a guide to help the brain gently process and release trauma. DBR is effective for healing deep emotional patterns, often called schemas, because it reaches beyond thinking and talking, working with the body’s stored emotional responses. It helps with attachment-related wounds like fear of abandonment or not feeling emotionally safe, releases shock held in the nervous system, and calms the body’s automatic stress reactions

 Circle of Security can be used in therapy to support and strengthen the relationship between a parent and their child. In a therapeutic setting, the therapist helps parents understand their child’s emotional needs and attachment behaviors, guiding them to become more attuned and responsive. Through discussion, reflection, and sometimes video feedback, parents learn to recognise when their child needs comfort, when they need encouragement to explore, and how to manage their own feelings during challenging moments. This increased awareness helps parents provide a “secure base” and “safe haven” for their child, which can improve the child’s emotional regulation, reduce behavioural difficulties, and promote healthy attachment. Therapists may also work with both parent and child together to practice these skills, strengthening their bond and supporting the child’s overall mental health and development. 

In my work, I believe it’s really important to help people understand how their thoughts, feelings, body sensations, past experiences, and overall wellbeing all connect and affect their relationships and daily life. I also help people see how bigger systems—like family, culture, and society—can impact their experiences, which can be really helpful in building self-compassion and kindness toward themselves. By learning more about these things, people can start to see their patterns more clearly and find new ways to make positive changes. I bring in helpful tools and skills from therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) that support things like being mindful, handling tough emotions, being kind to yourself, and communicating better. I also include ways to notice and manage how our bodies respond to sensory experiences, which can really help with feeling calm and balanced day to day. Together, this mix of understanding and practical skills helps people build strength, feel more connected, and cope better with life’s ups and downs.