When people come to therapy, they often arrive carrying questions, pain, confusion, or simply the sense that something in life feels out of balance. At the heart of humanistic psychotherapy is the belief that you are not a problem to be fixed, but a person to be deeply understood and supported in becoming more fully yourself.
As a humanistic psychotherapist, I work from the perspective that every individual has the capacity for healing, growth, and meaningful change. My approach draws from three core modalities within the humanistic tradition: Gestalt therapy, Person-centred therapy, and Transactional Analysis. Each offers its own unique lens, but all share a deep respect for your lived experience, your autonomy, and your potential.
So, what exactly is humanistic therapy and how might it help you?
The Core of Humanistic Therapy: You Are the Expert on You
Humanistic psychotherapy sees people as whole beings, not just a set of symptoms, thoughts, or behaviours. It focuses on your subjective experience: how you see the world, how you relate to others, and how you relate to yourself.
Rather than diagnosing or labelling, humanistic therapy aims to create a safe, empathic space where you can explore who you are, what you need, and how you want to live. It is a collaborative process. You bring your story, your feelings, and your truth. I bring deep listening, compassion, curiosity, and a toolkit of therapeutic approaches to support your exploration.
There’s no agenda to “fix” you. Instead, we work together to uncover what’s been getting in the way of living more fully and authentically. Often, simply being met with genuine presence and acceptance can open up new pathways that were previously out of reach.
Person-Centred Therapy: The Healing Power of Relationship
Person-centred psychotherapy, developed by Carl Rogers, rests on the idea that healing happens in a relationship where you feel truly seen, heard, and accepted without judgment.
This does not mean we never challenge or explore difficult patterns. But it does mean that our work together is grounded in empathy, honesty, and unconditional positive regard. When you are met with that kind of presence, it becomes possible to meet yourself with greater kindness too. And from that place, real change begins.
Many people tell me that in the therapy room, for the first time, they feel free to say what they really think and feel without having to edit or perform. That is not a small thing. It is fundamental.
Gestalt Therapy: Being Present with What Is
Gestalt therapy is a creative and experiential approach that invites you to become more aware of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and behaviours in the here and now.
Rather than digging endlessly into the past, we focus on what is happening in the present moment because this is where change is most alive. For example, if you are talking about a situation that made you angry, we might notice how that anger is showing up in your body as we speak. Are your shoulders tense? Are you clenching your jaw? We might explore that directly, giving voice to those feelings in the safety of the therapy space.
Gestalt encourages you to reclaim lost or split-off parts of yourself, the parts that have been silenced, denied, or pushed away. It is about integration, wholeness, and coming into fuller contact with your life as it is, not as you think it "should" be. There is something deeply empowering about discovering that you can stay with yourself, with your feelings, your sensations, your story, even when it is hard. That is a skill that grows stronger with practice, and it can ripple out into every area of your life.
Transactional Analysis: Understanding Your Inner Dialogue
Transactional analysis (TA) helps us understand the different "voices" or ego states within us - Parent, Adult, and Child - and how they influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
For example, you might have a critical inner voice that tells you are not good enough (a Parent voice), while another part of you feels scared or small (a Child voice). TA helps bring awareness to these inner dynamics and gives us tools to respond from a grounded, Adult place, one that is calm, clear, and capable of making conscious choices.
TA also offers valuable insight into our relational patterns, how we communicate, how we get stuck, and how we can shift those patterns into healthier, more authentic connections. By noticing and naming these dynamics, we can begin to untangle the old scripts we’ve been living by — the ones that might no longer serve us — and write new ones that reflect who we are today.
A Gentle Invitation to Come As You Are
You don’t need to be in crisis to come to therapy. You don’t need to have the right words or know exactly what is wrong. As a humanistic psychotherapist, I welcome you just as you are, whether you are feeling lost, overwhelmed, curious, or simply in need of a space to breathe and reflect.
People often come to me when they are navigating change, grief, anxiety, relationship issues, or questions about identity and purpose. Others come with a general sense of dissatisfaction or numbness, a quiet sense that life could be more vibrant, more meaningful, more aligned.
Whatever brings you here, I see therapy as a shared journey, one that unfolds at your pace, in your way. It is a space where you can reconnect with your own voice, values, and vitality. There is no right or wrong way to begin - only your way. We start wherever you are, and together, we find the next step forward.
In Closing: The Courage to Be Yourself
Humanistic psychotherapy is ultimately about the relationship to yourself, to others, and to the world around you. It is about becoming more fully human: messy, tender, strong, imperfect, real.
If this way of working resonates with you, I invite you to get in touch. I can see you in person at the Wellbeing Centre in Teddington, or online via Zoom, to meet you where you are; with warmth, honesty, and respect, and to walk alongside you as you explore what healing and growth might look like for you.