WHAT I EXPECT FROM YOU (AS A CLIENT)

Come with an open mind and expect to change for the better as a result of your sessions:

Be entirely honest in your sessions and don’t hide from either what you would like to keep secret, or have been keeping secret.

Practice Mindfulness:

Being present in the moment, where you mind and body are both in the same place at the same time.
Focusing on awareness by concentrating on your breathing which helps lower stress levels and improves your skills at detecting internal sensations such as feelings of tension. Proper breathing involves the stomach moving in and out when breathing, not the chest!
Consider ‘music therapy’ as part of your overall daily or weekly relaxation routine. I am trained in classical piano, and I can devise a program for you in achieving good head space for a soothed soul.
Implement a short daily meditation times that suit you. This can be as little as 10 minutes per day. I can introduce you to my “medicine cabinet” of healing crystals, rocks and gem stones to facilitate a calmed spirit.

Be kind to yourself (sidelining your inner critic):

Seeing yourself with loving eyes, dropping perfectionism, stopping berating yourself after each mistake, celebrating your moments of success than laying into yourself for your failures.

Practice self-observation and evaluation:

Be willing to examine yourself realistically, be willing to be uncomfortable.
Therapy works by helping you access your thoughts and feelings about difficult or painful experiences. The more you avoid going to these places, the slower things will change for the better.
Try to avoid impatience, old habits occasionally creep back in no matter how hard we try.

Do what you can to stay physically healthy:

The most important aspect of staying physically healthy is sleeping well. This is the lowest hanging fruit in mental health. Consider the implementation of Sleep Hygiene. This involves the following checklist:
- Know how much sleep you need.
- Go to bed the same time every night.
- Find a quiet place to sleep.
- Keep your bedroom dark and cool.
- Dedicate your bed to sleep and sex, and nothing else.
- Limit screen time before going to bed.
- Follow a bedtime routine.
- Limit your daytime naps.
Keep a food diary. Just the act of recording what you eat improves your diet which affects your mood and general behaviour. I have significant training in nutrition and I specialise in diet-specific ‘food reconditioning’ for the body.
Increase activity levels, even if it is incorporating a walk each day, which directly is clinically proven to reduce anxiety and depression.

Make and strengthen healthy relationships:

Many of us live in a network of relationships that either push us back or move us forward. As you find self-improvement in therapy and learn to be assertive and set boundaries, people may push back or be angry with you. You need to be ready for these changes and you may need to move away from these unhealthy relationships.

Outside my therapeutic space:

Take the lessons with you in life, keep doing what feels right despite what outside sources say, particularly ill-informed relatives.
Therapy can teach you skills that you can use to improve your symptoms and your life generally. The best and fastest way to build a skill is to practice as much as possible.