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Counselling & Psychotherapy 

Please get in touch and book an initial free 30–40-minute session with me.

 

Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Gender, Sexuality & Relationship Diverse (GSRD) Therapy
Intimate Partner Therapy (IPT) 
Psychosexual Therapy 


Or a combination of them tailored accordingly to your needs.
 

I am an experienced counsellor and psychotherapist with more than 10 years of experience in working with people of different sexual orientations, races, economic, social and cultural backgrounds and of different ages. I offer psychodynamic therapy, CBT and Gender Sexuality and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) Therapy or a combination of them tailored accordingly to the client’s needs.  

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I am an accredited registered member of the British Association of Counsellors & Psychotherapists (MBACP Accred.), a registrant British Psychoanalytical Council (BPC) and a Level 2 Member of the Association of Counselling & Therapy Online (ACTO). 

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I am working toward my accreditation with the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) as an Intimate Partners and Sex therapist. I am at the end of the Diploma in Clinical Sexology and Intimate Partners Relationship Therapy at the CICS and as a COSRT trainee, I am taking clients who want Relationships and Intimate Partner Therapy, and/or Psychosexual Therapy. Although I am not accredited yet, I take with me my years of experience as a therapist and my psychosexual and relationship/Intimate Partner Therapy work is supervised by a COSRT-accredited supervisor.

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I offer a confidential, safe, non-judgmental and supportive environment in which you have an opportunity to explore things that are worrying you. It is a possibility to gain great insight and understanding of your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behaviours that have an impact on your life and relationship. I think that connecting with my clients therapeutically enables me to fully understand their perception of the key issues affecting their lives.

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I offer brief therapy and long-term psychotherapy in English and Brazilian Portuguese.

Perhaps it is the first time that you have ever spoken about your difficulties with someone in your life. 

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Services


As a psychodynamic psychotherapist, I work exploring how your early childhood experiences and early relationships can shape your present relationships and circumstances, creating repeated patterns of relationships. These patterns are still present in your adult life even though you are unaware of them and they may no longer reflect your adult experiences. Being more aware of these patterns and how they impact the way in which you see the world and your position in it will help you to change this perception in a way which assists you better. This may involve uncovering the deeper origins of difficulties by exploring experiences, feelings, dreams, desires and patterns of relating that are contributing to present difficulties. I work one-on-one supporting you to gain a better self-understanding, so you can make more assertive life choices.

 

Counselling could help you understand these problems and help you work with them in a more constructive way. As a Gender Sexuality and Relationship Diversities (GSRD) psychotherapist, I work with clients who are gender, sexuality or relationship-diverse such as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender person, Polyamorous, Asexual, Gender Queer.

 

I abide by the BACP, BPC , ACTO and COSRT Code of Ethics and am DBS checked.

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*'... those who are GSRD – that is, their gender, sexuality or relationship styles are diverse (or divergent) from cisgender, heterosexual, monogamous etc.' 

Retrieved from: https://pinktherapyblog.com/2017/07/13/running-a-culturally-competent-service/

 

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Brief Psychodynamic Therapy

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Brief Psychodynamic Therapy focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in the client's present behaviour. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are client self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behaviour. It enables the client to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms that arise from past dysfunctional relationships and manifest themselves in the need and desire to abuse substances.

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In Brief Psychodynamic Therapy, the central focus is developed during the initial evaluation process, occurring during the first session or two. This focus must be agreed on by the client and therapist. The central focus singles out the most important issues and thus creates a structure and identifies a goal for the treatment. The therapist is expected to be fairly active in keeping the session focused on the main issue. Having a clear focus makes it possible to do interpretive work in a relatively short time because the therapist only addresses the circumscribed problem area.

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I work usually between 20 to 25 sessions and then we evaluate our work and decide whether to carry on or stop. 

Brief Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

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Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person’s present behaviour. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a client’s self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behaviour. In its brief form, a psychodynamic approach enables the client to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms that arise from past dysfunctional relationships and manifest themselves in the need and desire to abuse substances.


The healing and change process envisioned in long-term psychodynamic therapy typically requires at least 2 years of sessions. This is because the goal of therapy is often to change an aspect of one's identity or personality or to integrate key developmental learning missed while the client was stuck at an earlier stage of emotional development.

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A therapeutic alliance requires intimate self-disclosure on the part of the client and an empathetic and appropriate response on the part of the therapist.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

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Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It is a "problem-focused" and "action-oriented" form of therapy, meaning it is used to treat specific problems related to some diagnosed mental conditions.

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CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle.

CBT aims to improve mental health and it focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions (e.g. thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes) and behaviours, improving emotional regulation, and the development of personal coping strategies that target solving current problems.

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CBT is based on the belief that thought distortions and maladaptive behaviours play a role in the development and maintenance of psychological conditions, and that symptoms and associated distress can be reduced by teaching new information-processing skills and coping mechanisms.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy ​

Gender Sexuality & Relationship Diverse (GSRD) Therapy

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Gender Sexuality & Relationship Diversities (GSRD) is a more inclusive term to replace the acronym LGBTQ+. It includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans people, intersex, kink, non-monogamies, sex workers, asexual, non-binary and other gender non-conforming people, as well as those who feel generally excluded in discussions of LGBTQ+ issues.

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You may be looking for a therapist with training in a variety of specific issues by feel comfortable in working with who belongs to the GSRD communities. I have attended workshops organised by Pink Therapy on the topic GSRD and Gendered Intelligence (GI) on the topic of working with trans and non-binary clients. I have worked in different GSRD organisations which have a specialised work with GSRD clients.  I am also a GSRD rights defender and a campaigner for the Conversion Therapy practice ban.

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I am also very aware that mainstream psychotherapy has often persisted in focus on someone’s gender and/or sexuality, when it is unrelated to the issue being brought to therapy such as a bereavement, depression, anxiety. Trans and queer people suffer from job related stress, intersex people suffer from traumatic experiences with correction surgeries, kinksters suffer from a sense of loss when their children leave home. Often, GSRD clients can suffer from the consequences of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and internal and external lesbian phobia.

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As a GSRD psychotherapist, I believe in working with different tools to better fit to the client needs. I believe that gender and or sexuality/sexual behaviour is vital to the therapeutic process but I work with the clients’ own pace to attend to GSRD specific issues which the client feels that they need to work with or they feel the need to have a therapist who understands “where they are coming from”.

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The field of psychodynamic therapy is an exciting and sometimes unsettling search for understand humankind. It has come a long way from a moment of transition in which progressive cisgender and LGBT+ practitioners are discussing LGBT+ outside the often pathologizing question of aetiology, while LGBT+ clinicians like myself are entering the profession, studying and presenting on the topic.

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My pronouns are 'he', 'him', 'his'.

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Straight and working with me!

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Being a GSRD therapist does not mean that I do not see heterosexual monogamous clients or that I do not appreciate the way they live their lives. On the contrary, I think that as a psychotherapist I have the privilege of listening and helping those who may have never had the opportunities to talk and to be listened to by others about different aspects of their lives.

Gender Sexuality & Relationship Diverse (GSRD) Therapy

Psychosexual and Sex Therapy

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Are you having a hard time reconciling your more exotic desires with the messages of disapproval that you may have heard from society?

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It is common for people to have a problem with sex at some point in their life. Sexual problems can cause a lot of distress and unhappiness in people. A sex therapist will listen to you describe your problems and assess whether the cause is likely to be psychological, physical or a combination of the two.

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Psychosexual and Sex Therapy will support you with your intimate life and relationship challenges, emotional concerns you may be experiencing that are contributing to the sexual problem, and customised interventions and techniques to get you back on the journey of reclaiming or establishing sexual fulfilment.

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I aim to support you in gaining a clearer understanding of yourself. I provide a confidential, non-judgmental space to support you with various challenges related to your intimate life and relationships. We'll discuss your desired goals for therapy. I'll support you with any emotional concerns you may be experiencing that are contributing to the sexual problem in your life, and I'll offer customised interventions and techniques to get you back on the journey of reclaiming or establishing a newfound sexual fulfilment in your intimate encounters.

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I can help you with various sexual problems and related issues such as:

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  • Lack of desire

  • Difficulty having an orgasm

  • Pain during sex or inability to have penetrative sex

  • Difficulty getting or keeping an erection (ED)

  • Premature ejaculation or other ejaculation problems

  • Relationship issues

  • Depression and Anxiety

  • Self-confidence and self-esteem

  • Shame

  • Internalised homophobia

  • Having health issues or chronic illnesses

  • Coming Out

  • Sex Addiction

  • Domestic and/or sexual abuse

  • Seek therapeutic guidance to explore your feelings about your awakening interest in BDSM

  • Help in your decision-making process when deciding whom you'd like to disclose about your BDSM

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Just like with other types of therapy, sex therapy is customized to each client. It can involve both insight-oriented work, such as processing the psychological causes of your concerns around sex and sexuality, as well as hands-on homework in between sessions to develop skills.

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Sex therapy often also includes some form of educational component, whether it’s learning about your or your partner’s anatomy or getting information about the science behind satisfaction. Sometimes, the simple sharing of information tailored to your situation can be one of the most helpful aspects of seeing a sex therapist.

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As in all talk therapy, the goal of therapy is to explore the reasons why you have been experiencing difficulty, identify your desires in a non-judgmental and compassionate way, and empower you to cope with strength and insight.

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Gender Sexuality & Relationship Diverse (GSRD) Therapy

Intimate Partners Therapy (IPT)

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In IPT, I work to preserve the delicate equilibrium between you and your partner while facilitating an open and constructive dialogue. I’ll aim to cultivate a respectful and secure environment where both of you can comfortably express your thoughts and feelings, ensuring your voices are heard and understood by each other.

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I’ll help you and your partner(s) to open up, underlining the strengths in your relationship alongside what might be causing you distress. I’ll support identifying negative behaviours that can be changed to improve your relationship. As the neutral third party, my role is to guide and facilitate the process of helping you both gain a better understanding of each other and identify the positive and negative patterns within your relationship.

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I’ll work with you to reduce relationship stress coming from significant life events such as health issues, major financial decisions, or the joyous arrival of new family members. In sessions, I’ll assist you in developing effective stress reduction strategies, navigating these challenges, and strengthening your relationship’s resilience.

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I’ll help you negotiate relationship transitions. These life transitions can be unsettling, requiring couples to reevaluate their dynamics. Whether you’re navigating new territory together or facing complex questions about your relationship style, IPT offers a supportive space to adapt and foster open communication, trust and mutual growth.

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When relationships reach their natural conclusion, the process of separation and divorce can be emotionally turbulent. I’ll help you to navigate endings, divorce and separation with kindness. In IPT, I provide support for couples seeking to part ways amicably and respectfully. I can help with navigating the complexities of separation, address the emotional challenges/ practical considerations involved. My goal is to facilitate a process that allows both of you to move forward with clarity and understanding


Intimate relationships are not always confined to being between two people and some relationships may have a consensual non-monogamy or polyamory structure. The term ‘couple’ restricts the perspective of IPT to relationships that have two people in them. In contemporary relationship therapy, we need to include all intimate partner structures, hence our use of the terms ‘IPT’ and ‘multiple partnered people’.

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I can provide you with new tools, ideas and perspectives to help you get your relationship back on track and successfully help you gain a sense of warm and loving connection with your partner(s) again. 

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My first session

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Intimate Partners (IP) sometimes approach their first IPT session with concern and apprehension because they have never attended an IPT session before. Very often, Intimate Partners have questions about whether the therapist will take sides (of course this doesn’t happen) or what they may have to reveal as part of their IPT. Many IP find that if they attend with an open mind and a willingness to work with their partner(s) and with the therapist, then their relationship will start to benefit from even a few sessions. 

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We’ll set the ground rules and boundaries for the IPT and the direction of the therapy can be discussed. During this first session, you and your partner will be given the chance to ask any questions or concerns that you may have and your therapist will cover the formalities around confidentiality, code of ethics, cancellation agreements and a summary of training and experience.

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We will start with a therapeutic assessment. It usually takes place between 1-3 sessions of 50 minutes. 

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How do I prepare for my first session of couples counselling?

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  • Signing and sending back the IPT therapeutic agreement. It is important to have both of your email addresses and you both send from your personal email the agreement before the first session.

  • If we are working online, follow the information on ‘Online and Telephone Therapy’. You must be in the same room with the same device and sit where I can see both of you.

  • No violence or violent language against one of the partners is allowed during the sessions.

  • Some couples like to spend some time thinking about why they are going or what to bring to the session.

  • What issues have you been experiencing in your relationship?

  • How long have these issues been a problem in your relationship?

  • Have you ever been in relationship counselling before?

  • What have you and your partner done to try to resolve these issues?

  • What are your expectations of couples counselling?

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Gender Sexuality & Relationship Diverse (GSRD) Therapy
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