Anne Brassier

I am now taking on new clients, in person and online.

As a psychodynamic counsellor I believe that the past influences the present and that shining a light on your unconscious thoughts, feelings and behaviours is the heart of the therapeutic process.

Psychodynamic therapy is a traditional talking therapy approach, where sessions feel conversational. I have clinical experience and you are the expert in you, so we work together to understand how your past experiences are impacting you now. I don't judge, give advice or tell you what to do. Instead, we build a relationship with trust so that you feel able to talk about your life openly, exploring and processing your, often difficult, thoughts and feelings.

To this end, the therapeutic relationship is crucial to the success of any therapy, so I encourage you to talk to a couple of potential therapists before deciding who to work with.

How it works

We meet weekly, ideally in person, at the same day and time for 50 minute sessions. I listen, support, challenge and prompt to help you work through your feelings.

I have particular experience with:

• Anxiety and feeling overwhelmed
• Grief and loss
• Gender and sexuality
• Relationships inc relationship to self, food, non—monogamy and polyamory
• Depression and depressive episodes
• The decision to have – or not have – a family, including infertility, assisted fertility and adoption
• Processing an autism / ADHD diagnosis

I welcome enquiries for these, or any other challenge that you might be facing.

I provide a confidential space to help you process and manage emotional, psychological or behavioural issues. Therapy is somewhere neutral where you can talk about things that might be difficult to discuss with partners, friends or family.

The process generally involves:

• An initial assessment and information meeting, for us to get a sense of one another
• Using the early weeks to establish our therapeutic relationship and build trust, as well as continuing to gather information and understand your story
• Facilitating your emotional expression by encouraging honest self–exploration and increasing self-awareness
• Interpretations, interventions, observations and insights provided by me, that help you ‘join the dots’ of your life
• Checking in on your progress and managing an ending that consolidates any insights and gains

Our initial session is an opportunity for us to meet and see how working together might feel.

I start by outlining the terms of our therapeutic relationship so that our working agreement is clear for you.

I then gather information about what has prompted you to seek therapy at this moment; this includes details events and experiences, as well as the significant people in your life. We also discuss your expectations of therapy and of a therapist.

Most importantly, the first meeting allows us to get a sense of each other, establishing a foundation for our therapeutic relationship going forward.