About Relational Minds

It is understood, from an attachment perspective, that everything we do is informed by our relationship to another. We might live alone, work from home, be fully content in our own company, but will always have a wish to be seen, valued, loved, and needed by someone else. Depression and other forms of mental distress often (if not always) come about due to frustration and loss in our relational worlds, be it due to relationships at work, with relatives, or with close partners. Psychotherapy can help an individual to understand these dynamics, illuminating defences in relationships, helping to process painful losses, and to learn new ways of achieving meaningful intimacy with others.

Attachment based therapists understand that mental health difficulties don’t always develop because of major traumas, but can be just as likely to emerge due to consistent relational difficulty during early development. It is because of these caregiving experiences that a percentage of the population go on to develop maladaptive patterns for coping with relationships in later life. As an attachment based therapist I emphasise an exploration of the early relational disappointments, and the defensive patterns of coping that developed as a result. One important goal of psychotherapy is for a client to understand how they have denied themselves an authentic experience of intimacy due to defensive patterns in relationships; when this is understood an individual can begin to learn a more fulfilling way to relate with others. 

My first professional engagement with mental health began when I qualified as a Psychiatric Nurse in the early 2000s. I worked across forensic, neuropsychiatric, and generic mental health settings and gained experience and understanding of severe and complex psychiatric disturbance. It was in these settings I began to learn how to implement psychological interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Solution Focussed Therapy.

In 2012 I completed an MSc in Psychotherapeutic Approaches in Mental health. This helped me understand how to help people therapeutically who had been given the diagnosis of Personality Disorder, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

By the mid 2010s I began training as an Attachment based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, where I learned that mental health problems aren’t always because of trauma, but can be due to significant losses, and insufficient care and containment from key attachment figures. During this time I also studied for a foundation diploma in Systemic Family Psychotherapy, as well as gain experience of working as an honorary Psychotherapist in an NHS psychotherapy department.

Whatever the psychological distress an individual may present with, I allow for co-creation of the therapeutic process, giving an opportunity for a client to guide the therapy in whichever way they deem most useful to them.

I work attentively, with constant observation of the attachment model, developing trust from which to cultivate health and self-discovery. I believe psychotherapy, through the process of mutual attunement, can cultivate a broader language for emotion, thus helping the frustrated individual to feel grounded, and better prepared for the challenges of daily life.