About me
You may have arrived here knowing precisely what you want to work on, or maybe you know that something isn't sitting right. Perhaps it’s a restlessness you can't account for, a pattern that keeps repeating, a level of worry that has become so familiar you've stopped questioning it.
I'm Thea, a UKCP-registered, trauma-informed psychotherapist specialising in anxiety, working in person in Battersea and Putney and online across the UK.
Anxiety is rarely just anxiety. It tends to have a history, and it tends to be doing a job. That could be protecting you from something, or bracing you against something that once happened and might happen again. That's why it can persist long after you've learnt to understand it well, and why advice to relax or think more positively can so often falls flat. Understanding isn't the same as feeling different.
What I work with
It could be that you experience a constant, low hum of worry, or something more defined like panic attacks, social anxiety, health anxiety or the exhausting work of managing uncertainty. It may also be the result of trauma, whether that’s a single event or something that went on for a long time, including PTSD and CPTSD.
I specialise in anxiety-based issues and understand that anxiety doesn't always arrive under its own name. It often shows up as perfectionism, people-pleasing, insomnia, procrastination and difficulty holding boundaries, negative self-talk, physical symptoms with no clear medical cause, or a habit that won't shift however much you want it to. It's often what's left behind after a relationship that’s eroded your sense of yourself. Working only with the outward behaviour tends not to hold. Working with what sits underneath it usually does.
How I work
Therapy is a relationship before it's a technique, and how it feels to sit with someone matters. My approach is person-centred which means you set the direction, we go at your pace, and you won't need to talk about anything you're not ready to.
I trained integratively, which gives me a palette of approaches to draw on rather than a single model applied to everyone. This includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Internal Family Systems (I'm IFS-informed), Polyvagal Theory, Havening Techniques®, Eye Movement Reconsolidation and clinical hypnosis. Some of that’s talking therapy, some works more directly with how experience is held in the body, which can be useful when talking alone hasn't reached it. That's because anxiety doesn't live in the thinking part of the brain. It lives in a nervous system that learned, often a long time ago, that it needed to stay alert. Insight alone rarely reaches it. What we use, and when, is something we decide together as we go.
Anxiety, stress and trauma show up physically as well as mentally. In our sleep, our digestion, in a chest that won't loosen. Learning to notice and work with that connection can shift things that thinking about them can't.
Work can be short-term and focused, or longer-term, depending on what you need.
A little about me
Before training as a psychotherapist, I spent over two decades in the entertainment industry representing a roster of successful creatives. It gave me a close view of lives lived under scrutiny. The pressure of visibility, the exposure of putting your work into the world and waiting to hear what people make of it, and the particular strain of work that comes in bursts with no guarantee of the next job. When what you do and who you are becomes difficult to separate, a professional setback can feel like a verdict on your worth.
Getting started
Reaching out takes courage, and choosing the right therapist matters, the fit between you and the person you work with is a large part of what makes therapy effective. I offer a free 20-minute call with no obligation, so you can ask questions, hear how I work, and get a sense of whether I'm the right person for you.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Full clinical membership, UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
- Advanced Diploma in Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy, National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy
- Certificate in Trauma Therapy, National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy
- Certificate in Working with Parts, National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy
- BSc (Hons) Psychology
- Certified Havening Techniques® Practitioner
- Member of the National Society of Talking Therapies (NSTT)
- Registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC)
- Member of the National Council of Hypnotherapists (NCH)
I practise in line with these organisations' codes of ethics and professional practice. Regular clinical supervision is an integral part of my work.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£95.00 per session
Additional information
I offer a number of low-rate sessions as I feel passionately that therapy should be accessible to everyone regardless of their financial background. If this is a concern for you please do mention it when you call and I’ll do my best to make therapy an option for you.
When I work
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