Psychotherapy with us.

---

Here we are not seeking to have the therapist fix or heal you, or spend every session just talking about what's going on. Instead the therapist's role is to be a companion on your journey, this might not be around healing, but it could also be around transformation, spiritual growth or just a feeling of stuck or lost. What ever the reason you are coming in their will be no judgement and your story and situation will be met with calm, compassionate listening to understand where you are and how you feel about it. This however is not expecting you to retell traumatic stories out loud repeatedly as this doesn't often help. He takes a very strong trauma informed approach here in which all sessions are done so that the clients can feel safe and aiming towards not opening or going any further than you and your nervous system is ready for, so that you aren't flooded with held back emotions or sensations.

Somatic Psychotherapy differs to most other styles because its not just about talking and intellectualising problems, but how they're felt and experienced upon the body as well as the mind. As the nervous system and the body as a whole is responsible for protecting the mind, some times this protection can go a little out of sorts. With the body also the way the mind receives information from the world and communicates back. Somatic Psychotherapy is all about working on the relationship between what is going on with the mind, the body and the feelings shared between the two from experiences. 

James here uses a mixture of approaches that are all very much underpinned by the above, taking a very slow and safe approach so we can enter into these unknown territories with care. First getting to understand what has happened but mainly the impact that has had upon you, and where that impact may still be. Then working on regulation techniques and allowing the body and mind to help regulation of the nervous system, create relaxation and allowing you to feel safer where you are. So that when we start to look into or process some of the impactful parts. These can be done with a very safe stable container so they can be done well without the impacts flowing back. This is generally done through utilising various somatic tools, such as: bilateral processing, active imagination, connecting with emotional parts. These are all though taking the journey between body and mind and working slowly on the gap of either side. 

Rather than, just ignoring some of the aspects that we dislike and trying to get on with life while they're trying to get our attention, here we can build up to the chance to get to turn towards these and look to befriend and understand them, so that we can work with these demons that have being plaguing us and transform them into something that can help us. Releasing the weight of the burden we can often feel.

As everyone is different and therefore their needs and what works for them is different. James takes a very individual approach to working with each person. In which he generally has 4 main approach styles. These aren't normally chosen straight away or often chosen at on a conscious level but we drift into what areas work for each person at each time. But the 4 main styles are:

• Mix body and mind: This is the most common approach is Mixing the mind to body and Body to mind practices. This allows a multidimensional approach where certain aspects we can use one approach and then also come gently towards it from the other aspects too until we meet in the middle. Generally in certain situations people tend to find one approach easier which may be different for other parts.

• Mind to body approach. This uses meditative and other techniques allowing the person to go from the mind deep and further into the body. Click here to learn more about these aspects of the practice.

• Body to mind approach: utilising the body, movements and exercises to explore the body and then how these create feelings emotions, and the thoughts that come with them. If you're interested in learning more on this please click here to look at the somatic biomechanics page

• Acupuncture based: This is the most different of the approaches as it uses acupuncture needles placed within the body in various areas to help with the bridge between the mind and the body. This is not something for most sessions or every client needs to have, and generally only for those interested in it but if you are then you can Click here to read more.