This person-centred approach involves using particular tools and techniques to get to the heart of the questions that you may be asking and looking for help to understand or resolve. To achieve this, I employ and have been trained in a number of tools that will allow us to deeply explore your situation in our sessions together.

My approach is collaborative. I don’t want to give you a fish I want to teach you how to fish for yourself. As such, I work with you to find the tools you need, show you how to use them and then guide and encourage you in (or in between) sessions to use those tools to affect and achieve the changes you want or need.

Below is a brief explanation of some of the tools we may employ together:

Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)

NLP is a psychological approach that looks at how our thoughts (neuro), language (linguistic), and behaviours (programming) interact. It aims to help people change their patterns of thinking and behaviour to achieve personal goals.

This technique has received a bit of bad press since its founding in the 1970’s. Sadly some of its tecniques have been used by unscrupulous practitioners directing clients towards outcomes they did not desire or expect. My approach is to insure that you are always in charge of your sessions. I will take the time to make sure you understand the process and explain how it works, as well as assure you and myself that you are ready to go to the places that these powerful techniques can elicit.

States Elicitation

This is a technique used to help people access specific emotional or mental states, like confidence or relaxation, by focusing on memories, images, or physical cues. It’s often used to help people manage or change their responses in certain situations.

Anchoring

Anchoring is a technique where you associate a specific feeling or state with a particular trigger, like a touch, a word or symbolically using an image. Later, using that trigger can help you quickly bring back the desired feeling or state.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy uses guided relaxation and focused attention to put people in a trance-like state. In this state, you are more open to suggestions, which can help with issues like stress, anxiety, or unwanted habits.

Parts Work

This is a therapeutic approach that treats the mind as having different “parts” or sub-personalities, each with its own motives or emotions. By addressing these parts directly, people can resolve inner conflicts and achieve a more harmonious sense of self. Parts have been understood and worked with for a long time by analysts and psychotherapists. This work has been refined and popularised through the work of Richard C. Schwartz and the development of Internal Family Systems.

The Stop Process

A mindfulness tool often used to interrupt negative or automatic thoughts. You mentally or verbally say “Stop!” when you catch yourself in a destructive thought pattern, giving yourself a chance to pause and refocus on the gap between your thoughts. Over time and with practice this will allow you to break these cycles and find more resourceful ways of relating to your thoughts.

Coaching

Coaching is a process where a coach supports a person in setting and reaching personal or professional goals. Coaches guide people by helping them clarify their vision, set goals, and help resource clients by recognizing and tapping into their strengths. My model of coaching is Coactive Coaching, which is a collaborative approach. The attitude is that you are perfect and have the resources, the ability and the understanding to achieve your goals already within you. What may be stopping you are obstacles that we work on identifying and tackling together. Through our sessions we tap into and make your latent skills and resources more available to you and work on bringing out the motivation that will enable you to enact the changes that you want to see in your life.

Developmental Psychology:

This is the study of how people grow and change over their lifetime, looking at physical, mental, emotional, and social development. It helps us understand typical stages and challenges in life, from childhood to old age.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

EFT, or “tapping,” is a technique that combines gentle physical tapping on specific points of the body with focused thought on an issue or emotion. The idea is that tapping on these points (similar to acupuncture points) while thinking about a stressor or negative emotion can help release emotional blockages, reduce stress, and promote a sense of calm. It’s often used to help with anxiety, phobias, pain, and other emotional challenges.

Open Ended Inquiry

Inquiry is a way to develop a friendly interest in yourself and your past and present circumstances. The goal is to be curious about what comes up for you–thoughts, feelings, sensations and memories–all are welcome. In inquiry there is no particular goal or resolution in sight, and as a result we sometimes reach places of unexpected and profound understanding.

With inquiry we are attempting to cultivate an open and judgement free way of relating to our perception of what is here, now. In an inquiry, your goal is to simply be curious about what you are experiencing. You do this by assuming the perspective of a sympathetic, loving and non judgemental friend. Someone who is happy to listen, doesn’t need to comment, or to fix your problems. An open hearted and patient listener who has your best interest at heart.

If you can learn to become this for yourself, you will also fundamentally change who you are, because all of a sudden everything you see, feel and hear is not food for analysis or criticism but for curiosity, and that is a fundamentally wonderful way to begin seeing yourself and the world around you.

Daily Meditation

Meditation is a practice of focusing the mind, often by following the breath, focussing on a particular part of the body or an external object like a candle or a point on the floor in front of you. Doing it daily can improve focus, reduce stress, and increase emotional resilience. Regular meditation helps train the brain to be more present, so you feel less reactive to stress and more grounded in challenging situations. Over time, meditation can boost overall well-being, improve sleep, increase patience, and even support better physical health by lowering blood pressure and improving immune function. It’s like a mental “reset” that builds up calm and clarity each day. Like daily physical exercise, it’s a small time investment with big returns!

Each of these methods has a unique focus, but many of them can work together to support personal growth and change.