WHAT IS RELATIONAL GESTALT PSYCHOTHERAPY?
Gestalt therapy is a humanistic and embodied approach that includes all of you – your bodily sensations, which can offer us clues, in addition to what you’re saying. I’ve personally found gestalt therapy to be a beautifully rich and inspiring way to uncover your inner world. It can help you increase your freedom, self-awareness and can support you in making better choices. It can help you to be fully you.
Psychotherapy is similar to counselling, and in psychotherapy we may also explore the deeper patterns, beliefs, relational experiences, and ways of relating that sit beneath recurring challenges, creating opportunities for lasting change.
I work relationally. This is at the heart of what I do. In simple terms, this means I’m interested in the relationship between us and the interplay in your other relationships, allowing you to experiment in a holding space than enables you to flourish in the world. In short, gestalt is an incredibly enriching, and non-labelling, way of exploring your process holistically, leading to greater self-awareness and allowing you to become more choiceful.
As a psychotherapist, my training enables me to work with traumatic experiences sensitively and at depth, supporting lasting awareness, integration and change. In fact, gestalt is a particularly trauma-informed approach emphasising safety, choice, awareness and pacing, supporting you to develop the resources needed to process experiences in a way that feels manageable and integrated.
I’m Leah (she/her). I’m a UKCP accredited, relational gestalt psychotherapist. I work from my private clinic located in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral; I provide an affirming and inclusive space. I’m also a Mum, writer and poet. I work in an empathetic, relational and holding way to help you discover a way forward and gain new perspectives on your life. You might be feeling stuck, anxious, low mood, or experiencing low self-worth or challenges with your relationships. Or you may be with a sense that something isn’t quite right, even if you can’t yet put it into words. We can work together to explore what’s most important to you. Together we can be curious towards your thoughts and feelings, which can lead to a better understanding of what you need most.
I identify as a woman and hold an open, fluid understanding of gender and identity in myself and others. My work as a psychotherapist is neuro-affirmative and trauma-informed. I offer an LGBTQIA+ affirming and inclusive practice, welcoming people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and relationship styles.
I come from a mixed-faith background myself, and offer a respectful, inclusive space for people of all faiths and none, including those who do not identify with a religion but experience spirituality as an important part of their lives.
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.