My Approach

As an Integrative Psychotherapist, I take a relational developmental approach, recognising that our earliest relationships can profoundly shape how we experience ourselves, other people and the world. The difficulties we encounter in adult life often make more sense when we understand the relational experiences from which they developed.

I am primarily influenced by Richard Erskine's Relationally-focused Integrative Psychotherapy and Leslie Greenberg's Emotion-Focused Therapy. Both inform my interest in emotional experience, relational needs and the ways we can come to understand and resolve difficulties that are not always accessible through thinking alone.

At the beginning of therapy, we may explore how your earlier experiences have shaped your beliefs, emotional responses and ways of relating. This can include developing a shared understanding of relational needs, protective strategies, boundaries and the nervous system's responses to stress, drawing on ideas such as the window of tolerance and polyvagal theory.

As our work develops, we can move towards a more experiential exploration of what you feel and experience in the present. Through careful inquiry and attention to your immediate experience, we can begin to recognise emotions, needs and conflicts that may have remained difficult to understand or express. Where appropriate, I use approaches such as empty-chair dialogues to help you explore conflicting feelings, unfinished emotional experiences and different aspects of yourself.

Throughout this process, I aim to offer a relationship in which you can feel safe enough to be curious about yourself, including experiences that may previously have felt overwhelming, confusing or unacceptable. There is no assumption that you need to change everything about yourself. Instead, we work towards understanding what has happened, what you have needed, and what might now be possible.

I believe that healing begins with hope. Hope opens the way to trust, and through trust we can begin to rediscover meaning, purpose and belonging.

Sometimes emotional pain is difficult to put into words. You might feel trapped behind glass, unable to communicate what is happening inside, or spend so much energy holding yourself together that there is little room left to live. You might long for closeness while fearing rejection, or find it difficult to ask for what you need because doing so brings you into contact with what was missing earlier in life.

Therapy offers an opportunity to bring these experiences into a relationship where you can feel seen, felt and understood. Over time, this can help you develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself, strengthen your sense of identity, establish healthier boundaries and build more fulfilling relationships with others.

My aim is not simply to help you cope with difficulties, but to help you understand yourself more deeply and find greater freedom in how you live and relate.

About Me

I’m Guy, an Integrative Psychotherapist specialising in Relational Developmental Trauma and Neurodiversity. I work with individuals and couples, with a particular interest in helping people understand and heal the emotional wounds that can arise from difficult early relationships.

Much of my work involves supporting people who grew up in emotionally neglectful, abusive or unpredictable family environments, including those with narcissistic or borderline parents. These experiences can leave lasting difficulties with self-worth, trust, emotional regulation and relationships. You might find yourself caught in patterns of people-pleasing, self-criticism, shame or fear of rejection, even when you understand intellectually where they came from.

I see many of these patterns as adaptations that developed in response to earlier relationships and helped us cope at the time. What once offered protection, however, can later limit our freedom to be ourselves, recognise our needs and form fulfilling relationships.

My approach is grounded in the belief that we develop, and can heal, through relationship. Therapy offers an opportunity to explore your experiences with curiosity and compassion, develop a deeper understanding of yourself and discover new ways of relating to yourself and others.

I hold an MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy (Level 7) from the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute and have over six years' experience working as an Integrative Counsellor and Psychotherapist. I am also a trained EMDR Therapist. My research explored clients' experiences of transpersonal awakening, reflecting a wider interest in questions of identity, meaning and what it means to be human.

I work with

• Couples
• Individuals

Special Interests

Like all UKCP registered psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors I can work with a wide range of issues, but here are some areas in which I have a special interest or additional experience.

Types of Therapies Offered

• Integrative Psychotherapist

What I can help with

• Abuse
• ADHD
• Anger Management
• Anxiety
• Autism
• Bereavement
• Couple Issues
• Depression
• Parents
• Post-Traumatic Stress
• Relationships
• Spirituality
• Stress
• Trauma