My Approach

My approach to working with clients is strongly influenced by Self Psychology – a theory introduced by Heinz Kohut in the early 1970s. In this approach the therapist becomes empathically attuned to their client, allowing them to see and understand things from the client’s perspective, and consequently, for the client to feel deeply understood – Kohut called this being “experience-near”.

I am also influenced by Intersubjectivity Theory, so named by Robert Stolorow and George Atwood in the 1980s to describe a new paradigm in sychoanalysis. Stolorow and Atwood’s key refinements were that how both the therapist and the client see the world contributes to the progress of the therapy, and that every person’s therapy will be different because their therapy is a unique combination of therapist and client.