Women’s Counselling Bristol
Integrative, in-person counselling for women, with a broadly psychodynamic focus. Rooted in female solidarity and trust.
People come to counselling for many reasons. It may be there is specific life event or relationship you would like to address, or that there are painful experiences in your past that you need to safely talk through. It could be that you find yourself feeling unhappy, angry, anxious or lost, without knowing quite why. Maybe you simply want to understand yourself better.
Counselling offers a unique relationship where you can safely bring your feelings and difficulties without expectation or judgement. It offers an opportunity to reflect, grow and heal – to understand and be curious about your inner and outer world, and to consider how one’s past can unconsciously remain present.
Counselling
I am a primarily psychodynamic counsellor, which means that we will generally be exploring your present difficulties with reference to your past experiences and childhood. Our early life and relationships can unconsciously shape our sense of ourselves and create patterns in our behaviour and way of relating. Sometimes we find ourselves feeling stuck or at a point of crisis in our emotional lives, and psychodynamic counselling offers an opportunity to understand and untangle inner conflicts and areas of distress in a way which can bring both solace and change.
In addition to the psychodynamic model, I also draw on related ideas and techniques such as mindfulness and self-compassion practices, inner child work, trauma treatment theory, and feminist counselling principles.
My Approach
Why Women’s Counselling?
“The personal is political”
As a feminist therapist, I am dedicated to the provision of specialist mental health care for women. It is my belief that women’s inner worlds are shaped not just by their personal experiences and history, but also by the experience of being female in a patriarchal society – something which can manifest in a number of different ways.
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On a fundamental level, having a female body can affect mental wellbeing through the different seasons of life. For example, many women face a variety of poorly understood challenges around their reproductive health, including complex physical and emotional disturbances relating to menstruation, pregnancy, birth and menopause.
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The pressure of looking after children and older relatives can take an especially large emotional toll on women, especially if lack of support and difficulties in accessing affordable care are a factor.
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This can take many forms, ranging from inequality at work or within relationships, to experiences of sex based violence such as domestic or sexual abuse, stalking or harassment.
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The experience of feeling pressured or limited by social expectations of femininity and experiences of lesbophobia and biphobia.
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Social media, pornography, advertising and media can all substantially contribute to negative body image and feelings of shame and inadequecy.
Difficulties such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction and self-injury, can be understood partly as symptoms of the disturbance arising in response to these experiences. Even if you do not strongly relate to the examples offered here, we will always bear in mind how your experience of being a woman in the world may have influenced what you are currently going through. Counselling can also be a chance to explore what being a woman means to you, for in addition to understanding the challenges, we will value and celebrate the infinite varieties of strength, wisdom and creativity that womanhood can embody.