Sue McGinley

I am a Therapeutic Counsellor, Trauma Therapist and Breathwork Coach and I work in an integrative way to support and create an individual approach to your wellbeing and healing.

I am curious about you, about your story, your experiences and what brings you here today.  Maybe you are here because you want something different for yourself, you have a sense of life not being what you would like it to be, that you are not okay, that you are surviving rather than thriving and living your best life.  Together we can come to know what it means to be you, what your hopes and dreams are and what you need to create space for a new way of being.

I want you to know that all of you is welcome here, your pain, your sadness, your guilt and shame, your fear, your disgust and self-loathing, your anger and frustration, your grief and loss as well as your joy and happiness. I can share the load and hold space for you to breathe and help you make sense of your thoughts and feelings, the sensations in your body and the emotions that rise within you and may feel like they will consume you if you don’t push them back down. I can offer a space that gives you time to have a voice, be heard and witness your own experiencing and help you develop the resources and practices to self-regulate through breath work and movement, awareness of your nervous system so that you can come to trust and rely on you to create change and keep you safe.

I work in a holistic way, which means working with your emotional, psychological and physiological needs to help you explore and process difficult experiences and emotional turmoil. I offer a space that works for you and work in an integrative way, which might include talking therapy, the body and movement, breath-work, creativity, imagery and visualisation. 

When we have had traumatic experiences in childhood and adulthood, they can affect our behaviour, how we see and engage with the world and how we feel about ourselves.  I can offer you a gentle, nurturing space to support you in developing a sense of safety in your body, to help you make sense of your experiences and the thoughts and feelings you have at a pace that feels comfortable for you.

Trauma and ruptures in early childhood can lead to beliefs that we are at fault, that it is not okay to be us. Do you have feelings of being a ‘bad’ person, that you are unlovable and feel ashamed; beliefs that no one would like you if they really knew you? Feeling that there are parts of you that must be kept a secret and that can never be seen. A belief of not being important, that it is not okay to have needs and prioritise others and their wellbeing over your own. Together we can support a process of change and create new core beliefs about self and let go of the narrative you hold.

Feelings of not being good enough and seeking perfection and feeling driven to always do more.  Having high expectations of self and always feeling that you could do more and not allow yourself to celebrate your achievements.

Do you have an inner critic, judge and attack yourself, is there a voice that keeps you locked and stuck in cycles of self-loathing, sabotage and overwhelm and not feeling able to trust your own choices and decisions? I can help you find a different way of being, to develop a new relationship with yourself, one that nurtures and encourages you and allows you to recognise your own worth.

Feeling anxious, on edge, restless, not comfortable being by yourself and not feeling able to relax and fully enjoy the present moment. Struggling with disturbed sleep, have difficulty going to sleep and never feeling rested or that you have slept. Low mood, lack of motivation, overwhelm, exhaustion and a feeling that you should be able to manage, that you need to keep on going and pushing yourself can be signs of a lack of emotional and mental wellbeing and trauma.

Sometimes we don’t have words to express the pain we feel, or it can be difficult to identify your feelings and emotions, being curious about the physical sensations and connecting with the felt sense in your body, can provide clues as to what the feeling is and what is creating it. Being creative can also help remove barriers and create a flow, creativity can be about communicating the words we don’t know how to express or understand, giving them a voice and witnessing them. 

I am currently developing skills in Focusing to support my continued professional development alongside deepening my knowledge and understanding of parts.  Focusing and working with the body sensations can support connection to self and develop understanding of emotions.

I have focused much of my CPD on working creatively with images, stories, visualisations and fairytales to support an understanding of emotions and needs. Working creatively can be a gentle way of working with thoughts and feelings and can give us a different lens with which to see what is happening for us.