Welcome.
I imagine you’re reading this because things feel tough right now.
Whether facing a specific crisis or dealing with an ongoing predicament, each person who comes to me brings their own unique experience and concerns.
Together we develop a working relationship that recognises your own qualities and particular history, and responds to your present needs.
I work with…
I welcome those of diverse ethnic, racial, sexual and gender identities, from wide-ranging social and cultural backgrounds, of many faiths and of none. However you identify, I will bring care, attentiveness, and depth of experience to your need to be truly heard and seen.
I work with adult individuals, in person (though, where appropriate, we might arrange to work remotely, over Zoom or similar platform).
I’m happy to respond your individual therapeutic needs. Some of the concerns that bring people to me are:
- Work/life imbalance. You might habitually prioritise work, family, friends at the expense of your own needs – leading to friction in personal or employment relationships; burnout; feeling unfulfilled, isolated or hopeless; imposter syndrome.
- Long Covid, post-Covid fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), post-viral syndrome. I have lengthy experience of the difficulties encountered by those experiencing post-viral conditions and chronic illness including, specifically, CFS/ME. Research increasingly suggests that, whilst as yet there’s no cure for long Covid, many of the same established methods can also help those struggling with the current lack of understanding of this condition.
- Trauma, abuse, emotional neglect take many forms – including experience of being excluded or marginalised, of coercive behaviour; of emotionally absent parenting. They can surface as PTSD, Complex PTSD, social anxiety, low self-worth, and be somatised as chronic health conditions.
- Compulsive, addictive, repetitive or habitual behaviours and dependencies may recur in abusive personal relationships and co-dependency; a history of self-harm or neglect; intrusive thoughts; adverse patterns relating to food, drink, substance abuse and include sexual and social behaviours or phobias.
- Stress, anxiety, depression often manifest as mood swings, mental and physical hyper-activity, poor concentration; in fragile self-esteem or critical inner voice; anger, rage, difficulty expressing emotions; panic episodes; insomnia, low emotional and physical energy; debilitating depression, or simply an indistinct sense of dissatisfaction.
- Identity, gender, sexuality, relationship and sexual concerns – embracing cultural, physical diversity and neuro-diversity, and including matters relating to: race, LGBTQ issues, a history of sexual abuse (childhood and adult), and sexual difficulties.
- Grief or loss – whether through bereavement, end of a relationship or phase of life; perhaps resulting from illness, incapacity or other change of circumstance; pregnancy, childbirth and parenting; supporting ageing parents; adjusting to children leaving home.
- Difficulties with self-expression and creativity which may also connect with issues relating to spirituality and faith, including spiritual crisis, creative block, loss of sense of self.
We can all feel overtaken by stress or by ongoing challenges. And with busy lives it’s often most difficult to stay in touch with ourselves when we most need to.
I know how overwhelming it can be when talking to a friend isn’t an option, or simply not enough; how it is to feel stuck, or to have a vague underlying sense of unease, unsure why.
Just arranging an initial appointment – even when that feels daunting – often offers people a sense of relief: the hope that things can be different.
Being heard and seen …
… in a non-judgemental space, where you can start to feel less overcome, not so alone with difficulties, can make a vast difference. And meeting together in the same room is a good way of sensing this.
We can explore together …
… the origins of unhelpful patterns, the emotional and physical effects on you, your relationships and those around you, and how – with mindful self-compassion and understanding – you can begin to change them.
Mindfulness-Based and Compassion Focused Therapeutic Counselling with Lokadhī
My approach is integrative, drawing on awareness of the body. It is fluid, intuitive, gentle, sensitive but rigorous – underpinned by a strong theoretical understanding, sound training; and frequently updated by a commitment to lifelong learning.
I have something distinct to offer as one of few people with specific training in both Mindfulness-Based and Compassion-Focused approaches, bringing warmth and thoughtfulness to one-to-one therapy or counselling, as well as group work.
I hope that what I have to say in this profile will help you decide whether we might work together.
My ethos and how I work …
Practising Mindfulness and Self-Compassion has informed my life for some thirty years. This, blended with my core training in Psychosynthesis – an integrative therapeutic model which harnesses the imagination – infuses my work as therapeutic counsellor and therapist.
I offer therapy or psychotherapeutic counselling to those ready to work at psychological depth on an open-ended basis; and counselling to clients wanting to explore a specific issue, looking for short-term, focused sessions.
I understand from my own experience how painful it can be to lose touch with our sense of humour or perspective, and recognise the value of a holistic approach. We work together to create a context for your own understandings and growth.
Depending on what you find helpful at any particular time, we might bring in metaphor and symbolism, poetry, guided imagery or meditation, or work with direct reference to the body or with dreams.
Equally, I may include psycho-educational tools or specific theoretical frameworks to help you relate to your experience from a more explicitly cognitive angle.
Essential to whatever approach we take is that the relationship is based on trust – a sense that whatever you want to bring to your appointment will be received with acceptance. It’s important that the therapist you choose has a flexible, individual approach which meets your changing needs within a growing therapeutic relationship: someone with whom you can feel relaxed.
At an initial exploratory meeting …
… we can discuss what brings you to therapy and gauge whether we’d be a good ‘fit’. You may then feel ready to commit to a series of sessions, or might want some time to think things through further.
To establish a regularity and momentum to our work together, we’d arrange regular weekly face-to-face 50-minute sessions at the same time and on the same day of the week.
Psychotherapy and Mindfulness qualifications, training and regulation:
Following rigorous training, I hold postgraduate diplomas in Psychosynthesis Counselling and in Mindfulness-Based Approaches. I’m a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) whose ethical and professional codes I observe, and qualified in …
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Something about me:
Before training as a therapist I had a career in the City and spent some years as a visual artist and curator; I’ve run my own business, worked in corporate, private and voluntary organisations and with students – and really understand what it’s like to feel pressured or pulled in different directions.
My own journey of self-exploration grew from a sense of dissatisfaction with the way I was responding to my life – a recognition that I was …
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Perhaps the last word should go to one of my past clients:
“Thank you for being such a wonderful guide and travel companion on my journey! I feel very, very lucky to have crossed paths, and on lots of counts. But here are a few:
Your remarkable ability to ‘get’ me. I know it’s sort of the point of the job, but it still amazes me how effortlessly good you are at it! Your warmth and humour.
No matter how stressed or tired I’ve been, I always looked forward to our sessions as an enjoyable highlight of my week.
And last, for totally contradicting what I thought ‘Mindfulness Therapy’ would be – upending expectations of any austere focus and discipline, and showing me something far more rich, messy and life-affirming, than I’d ever anticipated”.
For more about the concerns that bring people to me, how I work, and my training, qualifications and experience, please visit my personal website: www.mindfulnesstherapy.co.uk
Contact:
For information about my availability and to arrange an appointment, please get in touch:
Our initial session will be 50 minutes when we’ll explore the things that bring you to therapy and what you might hope to change during our work together.
Subsequent sessions are also 50 minutes, at the same time each week.
Rates:
City Therapy Rooms
in Holborn: £80-£95 for each session, depending on time of day
Barnsbury Therapy Rooms (Islington)
in Highbury/Islington: £80-£95 for each session, depending on time of day
Low-cost/concessionary rates
I have a limited number of low-cost places (sliding scale) at off-peak hours those from low-income households.
Sessions:
Psychotherapy sessions at City Therapy Space:
Thursday
Directions to City Therapy Space
Psychotherapy sessions at Barnsbury Therapy Space:
Wednesday
