As we move through ‘life’ most of us develop new skills and fine-tune our beliefs. Life has ‘bumpy’ places and for the most part we ‘do OK’ or ‘manage.’  And then ‘life’ can get bumpier and harder to ‘manage’ or ‘cope’ with. When we can’t change our experience, when we can’t change our circumstances, we can feel overwhelmed, incapable, frightened, unloved and unloving. We feel ‘stuck’. We no longer function well. Our memory is affected and so is our thinking.  

Our familiar ways of coping are then no longer helping us and yet we repeat them. We try harder and things get worse. We overuse our strengths. We become stuck in a cycle of beliefs and behaviours and feelings that make us feel worse and alone, and we don’t know how to ‘get out.’ This is painful.

At these times we can benefit from the support of someone who is impartial, non-judgmental. Someone who is trained and skilled in understanding this kind of distress; someone who can walk with us through this experience without getting stuck themselves. This is one of the roles of a psychologist. Together we both find ways to become ‘unstuck,’ and to return to feeling alive, capable, personally secure, worthy and vibrant.

Areas of Practice

Assistance and Support With:

• “New” trauma

• “Long existing” trauma, including ‘complex’ trauma

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Grief

• Adjustment or decisions in difficult circumstances

• Chronic pain

• Chronic illness

• Terminal illness

• Lingering anger, frustration, irritability