Anxiety and stress
Available support when anxiety, persistent tension, fear, or excessive worry interfere with everyday life. Working with the thought patterns and behaviours that maintain anxiety, avoidance, and difficulties feeling safe in situations of uncertainty.
Public speaking and performing have been a significant part of my own life, and I have experienced performance anxiety myself. This has led me to explore and practise a wide range of techniques for managing anxiety and improving sleep.
Traumatic experiences
Understanding the emotional responses, beliefs and relationship patterns that develop in response to difficult or traumatic life experiences. Working with the lasting effects of these experiences on wellbeing, self-esteem and relationships.
I trained in schema therapy specifically to help people work through the effects of difficult past experiences. Schema therapy offers a range of experiential techniques that go beyond talking and analysing, allowing people to explore painful memories and gradually change their emotional responses to them. The aim is to help clients develop a more compassionate relationship with themselves and greater confidence in navigating difficult situations in the future.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Support in understanding and managing intrusive thoughts, doubts and fears, as well as the compulsions and repetitive behaviours associated with them. When appropriate, I also offer exposure exercises outside the therapy room, in real-life situations that trigger anxiety. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is an evidence-based approach to OCD that helps people gradually face their fears and learn to resist compulsions.
I have encountered OCD-related difficulties among people close to me, which has given me a personal appreciation of how important understanding and supportive guidance can be.
Meaning of life and identity
Support with questions such as who you are, what matters to you, and what kind of life you want to build. Exploring changes in identity, inner conflicts, personal values and the search for direction in life.
These topics are particularly close to my interests. I enjoy exploring philosophical and religious perspectives on human existence, including questions of ontology, atheism and agnosticism. I am also interested in how people develop a sense of identity, especially when their values, boundaries, and sense of direction are not yet clear. In my master's thesis, I explored McAdams' concept of narrative identity through qualitative research. This perspective examines how the stories we tell about our lives shape our sense of self and help us connect past experiences with our present identity and future aspirations. This work can be particularly relevant for people experiencing difficulties with identity, self-direction and relationships, including those with personality disorders.
Self-esteem and your relationship with yourself
Working with insecurity, shame, self-criticism, perfectionism and excessive demands on yourself, as well as difficulties with self-acceptance. Developing a better understanding of your needs, resources and strengths, and learning to set boundaries so that your life is not defined solely by the expectations of others.
Relationships
Exploring recurring relationship patterns, difficulties with intimacy and distance, trust, boundaries and communication. Developing a deeper understanding of your own needs and emotional responses to build more conscious and fulfilling relationships with others.
Crisis and loss
Professional support during major life changes, separation, bereavement and other emotionally challenging experiences. Making sense of your emotional responses and gradually adapting to new circumstances.
Loss is not always about the death of a loved one or a pet. It can also involve the loss of a career, a former sense of identity, an anticipated future, or a dream that never came to fruition.
Limerence (intense romantic preoccupation)
Support when thoughts about a particular person become difficult to control, uncertainty about the relationship creates significant emotional distress, or hopes and fantasies begin to take up a disproportionate amount of space in everyday life. Exploring idealisation, emotional needs, attachment patterns, and the factors that maintain this preoccupation, to restore a greater sense of emotional freedom.
Limerence can also occur in relation to someone with whom there is no personal relationship, such as a celebrity or an anime character. When this preoccupation begins to interfere with everyday life, it can be helpful to explore its emotional impact and underlying patterns.
Burnout
Understanding and addressing difficulties associated with prolonged stress, emotional exhaustion, and excessive demands on yourself. Exploring personal boundaries, opportunities for recovery and more sustainable everyday habits.
Adaptation and migration
Support when navigating changes in living circumstances, cultural or social environments, and one's sense of belonging. Exploring loneliness, the challenges of adapting to a new environment, and the process of building a new structure for life.
This list is not exhaustive. Psychological counselling can also help when it is hard to name the problem exactly, but there is a feeling that something in life, or in your relationship with yourself, no longer works the way you would like.
