Insights, Support, Reviews and Concerns
Therapy is a courageous and somewhat tentative process – courageous because individuals usually reach out from a place of pain, distress or confusion, they may feel uncertain or have little energy and dimmed hope – and tentative because openness and security may be challenging to achieve and because gains cannot be guaranteed. Often, individuals have struggled for a long time and may simply know what they “don’t want” and find it difficult to work out what is possible or how to achieve it. I count it a privilege to bring a share of hope to your journey, some insight, learning and skills, and a willingness to walk alongside, to advocate, encourage and support you towards your goals.
Getting in touch: Enquiries are most easily received via email, cornerstoneintegratedtherapy@pm.me, and are received on an access protected computer. My email account is with proton mail which offers a higher level of privacy, but please consider what information you initially feel able to disclose, sufficient to give me the insight I need in order to respond, whilst ensuring your own or other’s privacy.
It is my usual practice to set aside time to read and reply to enquiries at the end of each week. However, I’m sometimes constrained by schedule changes, including holidays and training events, when I do not pick up messages. If my reply seems particularly delayed, I hope you’ll resend your message. Please be aware however, that I am not able to provide crisis support. If you are in distress or your needs feel urgent, please take care of yourself and reach out for help, either to your GP or if you are based in the UK, to the organisations noted below*.
I see individuals, couples and supervisees in person (as health restrictions allow) and also online. Clients usually work with me on a weekly basis, with a regular day and time reserved for them. I’m sorry I don’t work weekends nor evenings. When clients reach their goals and end working with me, their space becomes available. However, I avoid managing a waiting list, unless I know a space is likely to arise soon, when mutual availability may affect who is able to take it.
If I have spaces, and working together seems possible, I may invite you to share a little more about what you’re looking for, how long you’ve experienced the challenges you’d like help with, and whether or not you have a preference and/or ability to work in-person or online. We may arrange a brief call via telephone or zoom, to see if working together feels like a ‘good fit’.
If we decide to work together, I’ll provide you with self-referral papers that will help develop our shared understanding of your difficulties and challenges, what you would like and how we might expect to work together. My therapy agreement elaborates the process of working together and seeks to answer most questions that have been raised across the years. If you struggle with reading, writing or forms, please let me know and we can work on them together.
Getting Started: Therapy may be time-limited or ongoing. It is rarely linear and is shaped by individual’s needs, goals, history, capacity and support. Sometimes goals are unclear and sometimes they feel urgent. We’re likely to begin by exploring the nature of your challenges and reasons for seeking help, fostering a sense of safety and a good relationship, clarifying your goals and making provisional plans for how the work might unfold. We’ll seek greater insights, to resource you for any change-oriented work, and collaborate on timing and pace. As your goals and the possibilities evolve, we’re also likely to discuss and agree on interventions or approaches that can support the changes and resolution you need. Later we’ll consider how to consolidate your gains and create a constructive ending to our work.
The therapeutic relationship is considered critical to positive outcomes and finding the right person to work with is hugely important. It may be valuable to consider your history of relationships, especially if they’ve been abusive or hurtful, or if you find it hard to be let down. If so, we may need to plan for times when this could occur in the therapeutic relationship. Whilst all therapists work hard and carefully to avoid causing upset or disappointment, our shared humanity introduces fallibility and flaws. It’s important to work out how you will raise any difficulties and to plan how we can might work on them together.
Reviews are a vital part of the journey and help us maintain a shared understanding of how our work together is progressing. They can include re-evaluation of your goals, gains, celebrations or challenges, the pace of the work and how you feel about the approach or style of therapy, again including the therapeutic relationship.
I usually schedule a review after an initial period of around 5-6 sessions; thereafter reviews, formal or informal, may be prompted by either of us, and/or as part of an agreed plan. I have a Review Form that offers questions and prompts to support more structured discussions. You may choose to complete the form and send it to me to instigate a review, or simply to offer me an update or additional insights. Alternatively, we may agree to discuss and work through it together. Please let me know how you would like to receive a copy, by email or by post.
I especially encourage you to take these opportunities to raise any concerns and will of course do my best to resolve them and/or to make changes where necessary and/or possible.
Concerns or conflicts can arise in therapy and may feel difficult to raise. I am open to any query, or complaint, and will make every effort to resolve any issues, with apology if I make an error. Please be assured I am also committed to providing a safe relationship and space for you to work on whatever is troubling you, to achieve insights and gains.
As part of my commitment to professional standards, you may also find it reassuring to know that I have considered how we might follow a complaints process to ensure you feel heard and supported. If you have concerns or are unhappy with any aspect of our work together, I ask you first to discuss this with me. It’s my hope that such discussion will enable mutual understanding and the opportunity to resolve any issues or difficulties. If after discussion you don’t feel the issue is sufficiently understood or resolved, please raise this with me in writing. If subsequently you remain unhappy with the service or response you receive from me, you may choose to pursue a complaint with one of the professional bodies of which I am a member. However, my earnest hope is that our relationship will be a strong and positive feature of our work together and that you will be more than satisfied by the process and the outcomes.
Endings, celebrating the journey and gains achieved are also an important part of therapy. Many of us have experienced them as painful, unexpected or negative, and it can be healing to approach them with choice and clarity and to consider when and how to create a positive ending for you. When therapy is completed in a briefer timeframe or has been planned in advance with a fixed number of sessions, one session is usually sufficient for ending; after longer periods of therapy, a few sessions may be helpful to draw the work to a close. When possible, we will make time to review our work together, to reinforce your gains and to resource you for future growth.
Whomever you work with, I wish you the very best of journeys and outcomes.
*Urgent Support
Samaritans: www.samaritans.org.uk Tel: 116 123
Mind: www.mind.org.uk Tel 0300 123 3393
NHS: Tel: 111, and press 2 for the mental health option
Cornerstone Integrated Therapy 