Biography

“ A warm welcome to my profile,

For me, therapy can benefit everyone. It offers the potential for a metaphorical spring clean or MOT, space to process, reframe and recalibrate or rehearse the possible. Importantly, it can provide holding during those difficult life experiences. Psychotherapy, enables us to understand our relational ties and dynamics and step towards our relationships with fresh eyes. I love that therapy gifts us a helicopter perspective, a zooming out and shift in viewpoint.

Across the years, I have been fortunate to build vast experience working with clients and patients in the NHS, at Bupa, within universities and also private practice. My ethos, is that therapy needs to be accessible, flexible and tailored to each persons individual needs. I have a love of culture and languages having been raised cross culturally in England and Portugal. My journey into psychotherapy happened by chance - through my work as a translator - I discovered the transformative power of psychotherapy programmes in street projects in Brazil. This took me on a new path leading to a psychology degree and professional training in psychotherapy completed in 2008. Every year I complete new training and in 2017 completed training in online counselling. I am also trained to work with metaphor, images, words and other creative means in therapy. This can offer another layer to my work - it is also great for bypassing any inner critic or censor.

As a psychotherapist, we are required to undertake a client journey ourselves - this is across many years. Undoubtedly, this helped shape my approach to my work - exposing me to working with body (concepts like character armour/self-protection), Psychodynamic (attachment and relational bonds), Gestalt (foreground/background and flow) and TA approaches (drivers, dynamics). I am an integrative psychotherapist - I look at how things regulate together or indeed where there is incongruence. Together we might explore pressure or choice points in your life or way of living within the context that human beings have a natural tendency for balance and wholeness (i.e. self-regulation) . Naturally, this happens when the right conditions are there - not dissimilar to growing plants - sunshine and water being essential.

Clients' inform me that I am compassionate, warm and honest. I am also told they appreciate my ability for gentle and/or direct challenge as/when we agree this as an approach. In my practice I work with emotions ranging from connecting to these, labelling feelings and expressing them in a choiceful way. I am able to work with apathy as well as depression. I have experience of working safely with anger, fear as well as excitement and joy. Also, I am able to draw on basic CBT concepts to work with worry, anxiety and panic. I have accompanied individuals through their journey with grief and loss, adjustment at different stages of their lives.

I have interest, experience and specialist training in working with emotional intensity in relationships and associated experiences such as gaslighting, power and control dynamics and domestic violence. I also have experience of working with families of prisoners.

In addition to supporting clients and patients I have supported therapists in training through therapy during training as well as clinical supervision and reflective practice.

I am interested in emotional and psychological well-being, personal development and growth, polarity work with emotions, motivation/goal setting, relational bonds and trauma.

My availability can change so do please message me for my current availability.

I hope this provides a glimpse at how I work and who I am as a therapist. Naturally, do reach out for more info.

Andrea

Member of

Member (Registered), British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, United Kingdom

Approach to treatment

- Brief Therapy and long-term therapy
- Eclectic
- Integrative
- Person Centred
- Therapy including arts (writing, image making, metaphor)
- Psychodynamic and body focused therapy

Languages spoken

English
Portuguese

Currently Practice

BN10, Sussex

Therapy Types

Stress, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, bereavement, loss, relationship issues, abuse, anger, self-esteem and confidence.

Qualifications

• Master degree in Integrative Psychotherapy, Metropolitan University London, graduated with Merit
• Diploma in Integrative Arts Psychotherapy, Institute for Arts in Therapy & Education;
• Certificate in the Therapeutic Application of Arts in Therapy an Education;
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, Birkbeck College

Current professional training:
Counselling for Depression, Metanoia Institute - working towards professional licence.

Demographics of Focus

Adults age 18 and over
Trainee counsellors or students (18 and over)
Professionals
Expatriates