Frequently Asked Questions
What to expect?Starting therapy can feel like a big step, so explaining exactly what to expect from sessions is very important.
Before beginning work together, we will pick a day and time that we will meet on each week. This aids in planning schedules, and creates the consistency shown to benefit the therapeutic process. Our sessions will be 50 minutes long and will take place over Zoom, or another secure web platform.
The first session will be an assessment, something that may sound a little daunting but is in fact just an opportunity for me to find out as much as possible about what is going on, what you would like from therapy, as well as your history and your background.
People often feel nervous, and that is ok. We will takes things at your pace. What we speak about is confidential, save for a handful of circumstances I will outline clearly at the start of the first session.
How long does it take?When beginning working together, clients often want to understand how many sessions of therapy will be necessary, or how long the process will take.
Answering this is almost impossible, as every individual, relationship and set of circumstances is unique. However, there are a couple of things to bear in mind.
Firstly, exploring and addressing psychosexual and relationship issues often takes time.
Secondly, I work on an open-ended basis, allowing the flexibility to meet clients where they are. Just as there are no restrictions on how long we can work together, I will also be checking in regularly about how therapy is feeling, whether it is still meeting client needs, and making plans for endings where appropriate.
Does couples therapy work?This is another question people often come to therapy with, to which my answer is normally, it depends what you mean by work.
Couples therapy is not perfect, nor is talking to someone about what is going on between yourself and a partner guaranteed to fix things. However, there are some important ways I have seen consistently, that couples therapy can help.
Provides a safe space in which to have difficult conversations
Offers new and different ways of speaking, listening and thinking about what’s happening
Gives clarity on how to move forward, be that in rebuilding trust and re-establishing connection, or making the decision to separate
What is psychosexual therapy?Psychosexual therapy offers a judgement and shame free space in which to explore things that we often find very hard to talk about. It is a variety of therapy designed to work specifically with sexual challenges and dysfunctions, exploring both their physical, psychological and emotional aspects.
It combines talking therapy, speaking to a therapist about what is going on and exploring the psychological landscape behind any difficulties, with practical, bodily focused exercises. These are to be done outside of sessions, in the client’s own time, and are designed to enhance the relationship with one’s body, give a greater sense of control over sexual functioning, and to bring the mind and body back into alignment with one another.
What is relationship therapy?Relationship therapy is about understanding the space between people.
These could be partners, polycules, spouses, friends, family or colleagues. Though most often we work with people exploring their romantic relationships, we may also support people keen to consider platonic or familial ones, or indeed work with people who struggle forming and maintaining any relationship at all.
Relationship therapy asks what the story is between people, what are the unwritten rules that have come to dictate what happens, what is pushing us closer to them or pulling us away.
This type of therapy may also explore the relationship we have with ourselves and our own sexuality.
Does couples therapy help with communication?Couples therapy, when undertaken by two willing partners who are committed to exploring what is going on and how it can be changed for the better, can significantly improve communication.
Working with a couples therapist can allow a couple to identify negative patterns, repetitive arguments or ways of engaging with another that feel stuck and are not working. Having identified what isn’t working, it can offer couples specific, practical tools to better communicate, starting with how they both speak and listen to one another.
Research has indicated that about 70% of couples disagreements are unresolvable. Couples therapy is not about altering this, rather, about teaching people to argue better, in a way that allows them to feel heard, express feeling, accept blame, and move forward.