Kate Hodsdon

About you ...

You're trying everything - so why do you still feel so stressed and anxious?

You've read the books. Done the breathing exercises. Maybe tried therapy, coaching, cold showers, and meditation apps. You've set boundaries, cut out "toxic" people, ended relationships, and changed jobs - or at least seriously considered it.

But the stress still grips you - in your chest, your neck and shoulders, your jaw, and maybe your gut. You’re tired but wired by bedtime. Still pushing through the week and crashing at the weekend. You wake up with the jitters from thoughts churning at night - and feel exhausted before you even start the day.

You might have been diagnosed with some kind of “disorder” - maybe GAD, OCD, or ADHD (we’re not here to assess that). We explore what this means to your lived experience - and what you tell yourself, like “I’m simply an anxious person" (as most of my clients do).

Secretly, you’re worried something is actually wrong with you (I hear "broken" a lot).

It might feel unbelievably stressful, but I bet what you're experiencing makes complete sense in context. But broken? Perhaps as a feeling, but I doubt that’s true.

Why talking about stress doesn't always lower it

Most approaches to stress and anxiety work from the top down - meaning, they help you understand your thoughts, challenge your beliefs, or manage your symptoms. That's useful, and if CBT has helped you make sense of things, that insight is not for nothing.

However, stress doesn't come from thoughts - it comes from emotions, automatically sent by your nervous system. Stress lives in your held breath, tight shoulders, the rock-solid tension in your back, and your stomach knots. It gives you a type of exhaustion that doesn’t shift even after a day "relaxing."

If you feel stuck it's not your fault

You can understand your patterns perfectly and still feel stuck in them. You sense safety through your body, just like you sense danger through your body. That's what you'll learn - to show, not tell, your nervous system in small and steady ways that it can feel and trust. 

Chronic stress responses and anxious thought loops are interconnected systems and need a body-centred and a cognitive approach.

Who I work with 

I work with people who are functioning - often highly - but carry chronic, complex stress that's been there for as long as they can remember. People like you who've tried so hard to manage it and know something deeper needs to shift.

Two ways we can work together:

Settle Into Your Self - this is an integrated stabilisation programme that combines 12 in-person therapy sessions with nervous system education, body-centred practices, and a mindfulness-based toolkit. We meet every two weeks with supportive check-ins between sessions - we do this so that you can integrate what we're introducing.

It's structured, practical, and tailored entirely to you. This isn't a one-size-fits-all online course - it's a therapeutic programme targeting the stress responses in your body, the emotions driving it, and helps you understand where the coping strategies that once helped you are running out of steam. For more info, head to my website - settled-self.com

1:1 therapy - open-ended, weekly relational, body-centred therapy for people who are ready to look at what's underneath, having built enough steadiness to go there.

Both are held in person, in a calm, private space in Mayfair.

How I work

I don't see anxiety, fear, or sadness as disorders - I see them as signs you’re suffering. To me, your stress responses are always valid and evidence that your nervous system learned to protect you - and did a brilliant job of it.

What we get curious about are your adaptive patterns and your emotional needs - to understand what they were protecting.

From there, we gently build your capacity to feel what you feel without being flooded by it, and to respond to life from steadiness rather than survival.

We talk, we reflect, and we work with the body - noticing tension, breath, sensation, and what energy shifts when you slow down enough to listen. Everything is always an invitation - we meet you where you are.

I'm open, direct, warm, and have been known to laugh with clients. I don't sit in silence waiting for you to fill our time - that can be distressing if you already feel stressed and anxious, especially in relationships.

I'm collaborative - we figure out what it’s like to be you together - we’re a team. What matters most is that you feel heard, and that everything we do together positively impacts how you feel day to day - in meaningful, real ways.

Why I do this particular work

I was fascinated about why we do what we do and why we think what we think since I was a child. I've "done the work" and came to therapy training through my own experience.

I spent years in therapy - great therapy - understanding my patterns, building insight - and still got hijacked by stress and anxiety attacks. It wasn't until I found attachment therapy and somatic approaches that I felt I started to make sense. In just weeks, my symptoms faded away.

That's what we want for you too - the felt experience of settling into your Self. That moment your body goes "ah - this is what settled feels like."

After a career as a creative, I returned to work as a body-based therapist during my training to deepen my real-world understanding to stress in the body. Settle Into Your Self was developed after hundreds and hundreds of bodywork clients arrived gridlocked with stress and anxiety and had no idea what to do about it.

Curious? Ready for a chat?

You don't need to be 100% ready to get started. You can just send a short message here or via my website, and we'll take it from there.

I offer a free 30-minute chemistry call so we can see if we're a good fit - no pressure, no commitment, no stress! Most people enjoy them because they relax as they feel heard.

Ethical Statement on Diversity & Inclusion:

The trauma approaches I work with are framed to include not just personal trauma, but collective, systemic, cultural, racial, and gender. When we explore your lived experience, we hold it in all these - and look at broader impacts to the stress, trauma, and fear that may be dominant in your world. Everyone is welcome ... 

I have extensive experience of Intergenerational Trauma, Narcissistic Caregiving, Emotional Neglect, Family Estrangement, and Socio-Religious Coercion.

If you come from a background where belonging was dependent on you towing the line - and if you didn't, then it resulted in estrangement, disfellowshipping, or ex-communication - let's talk.

Head to my website for more about Settle Into Your Self and fees. I offer a reduced rate for 1:1 therapy, but that spot is taken for the next six months. If cost is a barrier, drop me a line - I'm happy to recommend training centres where you'll be in safe hands.

I am based less than 1-minute from Bond Street Station. There is a waiting area where you can wait before your session, with access to restrooms. A discreet entrance is available on the Brook Street side of the building if you would prefer not to be met by the reception team, and directly by me.

The room is spacious without being too big, has air-conditioning, and plenty of natural light - it's calm, and you'll feel relaxed. There is a lift but no wheelchair access through the front door - so let me know if that's something you need during our chemistry call.