Starting therapy raises a lot of questions. Here are the ones I hear most often — answered honestly, without jargon.
What therapy is, what to expect, and whether it might be right for you.
The short version: ongoing therapy suits patterns that have been there a long time and feel rooted in earlier experience — things that haven't shifted despite your best efforts to understand them. Clinical hypnotherapy suits responses that feel hard-wired or automatic — anxiety, habits, phobias — where understanding alone hasn't moved them. Coaching suits forward-facing work — clarity, direction, a specific transition or decision point. It's also the option I offer to international clients.
But you don't need to have worked any of this out before getting in touch. The consultation call is exactly where we figure it out together — I'll ask questions, listen carefully, and share what I think might work best for you.
The first session is mostly about getting to know each other. I'll ask about what brought you here, a little about your history, and what you're hoping for. There's nothing you have to say or do — I'll guide things gently and follow your lead entirely.
Therapy isn't about being analysed or judged. It's a space to think out loud, with someone who is genuinely curious about your experience and trained to help you understand it — and feel it — more deeply. Many people feel a quiet sense of relief just from being properly heard, often within the first session.
There's no universal answer — it depends entirely on the person and what they're working on. Some people find significant shifts in a few months. Others work with me for a year or more, going progressively deeper into longstanding patterns.
I don't believe in keeping people in therapy indefinitely, and I'm not interested in creating dependency. We review how things are going regularly, and I'll always be honest with you about what I see and what I think. The goal is always for you to need me less, not more.
Many of my clients have had therapy before. What they often tell me is that it helped them understand themselves better — but didn't quite shift how they felt. That gap between insight and felt change is exactly what my integrative, body-based approach is designed to address.
If previous therapy felt too surface-level, too focused on managing symptoms rather than getting to the root, or simply like the fit wasn't right — those are all worth naming. The relationship with your therapist matters enormously, and the consultation call gives us both a chance to sense whether this feels different before any commitment is made.
Yes — and I want to be direct about that rather than just saying the right words.
My practice is built around people who don't fit neatly: those who have felt on the edges of therapy rooms, family systems, or the world more broadly. That includes people from racially and culturally marginalised backgrounds; people whose identities sit outside dominant norms in terms of sexuality, gender, or how they move through the world; people who are neurodivergent; and people who have been told their nervous system or emotional experience is "too much."
I'm aware that the therapeutic tradition has often centred particular kinds of experiences while quietly marginalising others. My training and ongoing work takes this seriously — not as a checkbox, but as something I actively hold.
If you've been in therapy spaces that felt culturally tone-deaf, or where you ended up spending energy educating your therapist rather than doing the actual work — I understand why that's exhausting, and I'd want our work to feel genuinely different. The consultation call is a good place to find out whether it does.
What the relationship looks like, how I work, and what to expect as we go.
Absolutely not. Clinical hypnotherapy is a deeply relaxed, focused state — not unconsciousness, and nothing like what you see on television. You remain fully aware and in control throughout. You cannot be made to do or say anything you don't want to.
It's more like a very focused, purposeful daydream — a state in which the subconscious mind becomes more accessible, allowing deeply held beliefs and automatic patterns to be gently updated. It's particularly effective for anxiety, phobias, deeply rooted habits, and responses that haven't shifted through talking alone. Many clients find it one of the most quietly powerful things we do together. Full details are on the Hypnotherapy page.
No — sessions aren't a formula. Some are entirely conversational. Others involve more body-based attention, or a piece of IFS work, or a hypnotherapy element when it feels right and we've built enough trust and rapport. The approach follows you, not the other way around. What you bring into the room on any given week shapes what we do with it.
The therapeutic relationship is one of the most important factors in whether therapy works — so this is exactly the right question to be asking.
I'm a warm, relational therapist. I don't sit behind a wall of professional neutrality — I'm genuinely present, genuinely curious, and I care deeply about the people I work with. I find this work meaningful in a way that I hope comes through. Clients often tell me they feel held rather than observed, and that sessions feel like a real meeting rather than a clinical assessment.
That said, fit is something you feel, not something I can promise. The free 20-minute consultation call is exactly the right place to sense it. Come with your questions, notice how you feel in the conversation, and trust what you find. If I'm not the right person for you, I'll always try to help you find who is.
Please tell me. It's one of the most useful things you can bring into a session, and I genuinely mean that — not just as a reassurance, but because how therapy feels is itself information worth working with.
We review progress regularly, and I'll always be honest about what I'm seeing. If something in the approach isn't landing, we'll adjust. If you're wondering whether to continue or to end, we'll talk about it openly. There's no right or wrong answer, and endings — when they come — are something I take care with. I don't believe in therapy that just quietly stops working and carries on anyway.
Please reach out even if you're not sure of timing — I will always find a way to support you, even if I can't offer a regular slot immediately.
I keep an active waiting list, and I will be honest with you about timescales as soon as we've spoken. If I don't have a one-to-one space available right away, I won't simply ask you to wait and leave you without anything. Depending on what you're working with, I might suggest one of my groups as a meaningful starting point, or point you towards resources, reading, or other practitioners who might be able to see you sooner.
I take the fact that someone has reached out seriously. I never want cost, capacity, or uncertainty to be a reason someone doesn't get support — so please do get in touch, and we'll work out what's possible together.
Logistics, confidentiality, and what to expect day to day.
Yes — and I take this seriously. Confidentiality isn't a technicality to me; it's the foundation of the work. Everything you share stays between us. The space only works if you can trust that completely.
The only exceptions are narrow and defined: if I believe there is a serious risk of harm to you or to someone else, or if I am required to disclose information by a court of law. In either case, I would always aim to discuss this with you first wherever it is safe to do so.
I also work within regular professional supervision — a standard and important part of ethical practice — where I may discuss my work in general terms. Your identity is never disclosed in supervision.
Both. In-person sessions are available in Glasgow. Online sessions take place via a secure video platform — I'll send a link in advance, and all you need is a private space and a reasonable connection.
Online therapy is as effective as in-person work for the vast majority of people — the research supports this, and it's borne out by my own experience with clients. The depth of the relationship, the quality of attention, and the capacity for real change are all fully present online. Many clients actually prefer it: there's no commute, no unfamiliar room, and the option to work from a space that already feels safe. If you're wondering whether to try it, it's worth doing so with an open mind.
You're welcome to email between sessions if something comes up that you want to note, share, or bring into the next session. I'll always respond within a reasonable timeframe — usually within one to two working days.
I'm not able to offer crisis support between sessions. If you're in acute distress, please contact your GP, call 999, or reach the Samaritans on 116 123 (free, 24 hours, every day).
Yes — I offer a free 20-minute consultation call before any commitment is made. It's a chance for us to meet properly, for you to ask whatever's on your mind, and for both of us to get a genuine sense of whether this feels right.
There's no obligation after the call, in either direction. If I don't think I'm the right fit for what you're bringing, I'll always say so — and I'll do my best to point you somewhere that is.
Session costs, financial accessibility, and cancellation policy.
Individual therapy and coaching: £85 for a 50-minute session, £120 for a 90-minute session. Clinical hypnotherapy is 90 minutes: £120. I also offer blocks of six sessions for a defined piece of work — details on the Services page.
If cost is a barrier, please read the next question before deciding not to reach out.
Yes — and I want to be clear about how seriously I take this. Financial accessibility matters to me deeply, not as a policy, but as a value. I hold a number of reduced-fee spaces specifically for people who would otherwise be unable to access the work.
Please mention your situation when you get in touch — in your initial message or during the consultation call. We'll have an honest conversation about it, without awkwardness, and work out what's possible.
I ask for 48 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. Cancellations within that window are charged at 50% of the session fee. Genuine emergencies are handled with common sense.
Consistent late cancellations affect the continuity of the work, and I do hold this boundary. If I ever need to cancel, there is no charge, without exception.
Other ways to access the work — for individuals, groups, and organisations.
Yes. I run small therapeutic groups — typically six to eight people — online and in person in Glasgow. They draw on the same somatic and relational approaches as individual work, but offer something one-to-one sessions can't: the experience of being witnessed by others, of recognising your patterns in someone else's words, of not being alone with what you're carrying.
Groups are also a meaningful starting point for people who aren't ready for individual work yet, or who are waiting for a one-to-one space to become available. Full details, upcoming themes and dates are on the Groups page.
Yes, and for many people the two work particularly well together. Individual sessions offer depth and privacy; group work offers the dimension of being seen and met by others. They can complement each other in ways that accelerate the work rather than duplicate it.
If you're already working with me individually and interested in joining a group — or vice versa — just mention it and we'll talk through whether the timing feels right.
Yes. I work with organisations who want to take their people's mental health seriously — offering workplace wellbeing workshops, leadership consultancy, and bespoke training programmes grounded in neuroscience and somatic psychology. It's practical, evidence-based, and designed to actually shift something rather than tick a box.
Full details of what's available and how to enquire are on the Corporate & Organisational page.
The best way to get your questions answered is a conversation. The free consultation call is exactly the right place to ask anything that's on your mind — however small it feels.