Feeling low, flat, unmotivated, tired, or disconnected can make everyday life feel much heavier than usual, particularly when you don’t understand why you’re feeling it.

It can be confusing, frustrating and defeating.

In therapy, we can look beyond the surface-level symptoms and explore patterns, beliefs, and relationships that may be influencing your mood.

As you understand these deeper dynamics, your mood often begins to shift or feel different, not because you’ve “fixed” yourself, but because things inside you finally make sense.

Anxiety isn’t random. It’s the brain’s survival mechanism that shows up when your brain thinks you’re in some sort of danger, like fighting a lion… or writing an email to your boss.

Together, we can explore what your brain is reacting to, and why, including past pressures, patterns or expectations that you may have been carrying for years, sometimes unknowingly.

As you begin to understand why your brain is reacting with anxiety, the experience of anxiety often changes dramatically.

Rather than being a confusing, unbearable sensation, it becomes more of an understandable (although uncomfortable and sometimes annoying) reaction from your brain trying it’s gosh-darn hardest to keep you safe.

With intentions so pure, it is much harder to be mad at your brain. It’s a bit like a puppy barking at the mailman… or the wind.

Panic attacks rarely come out of nowhere. They usually begin with a surge of anxiety or another uncomfortable emotion (often a completely valid one), then the panic builds in a matter of moments when that emotion is quickly judged, resisted, or pushed down, creating a spiral of confusion, fear, and overwhelm.

In therapy, we work on understanding and validating those initial emotions. When they’re given space rather than fought against, the cycle often breaks, and panic becomes much less frequent and intense.

You’re left with feelings that make sense, instead of sensations that feel terrifying.

Living with neurodivergence can feel like living life on hard-mode, especially if you’ve spent years not knowing that your brain is operating differently.

I like to help my clients understand their brain’s strengths, quirks, and sensitivities, so they can be more patient and compassionate with their struggles.

We also tend to explore past experiences of judgement or shame from trying to “fit in”, and focus on finding ways to build a life that actually suits their brain, instead of forcing it into systems or rules that never did.

Self-esteem, identity, and self-worth are shaped over time, by our relationships and experiences.

When these parts of the self feel low or underdeveloped, it’s usually for a reason (or many), and probably not due to a lack of “positive thinking”, or commitment to daily affirmations repeated 27 times in the bathroom mirror every morning, or failing to work hard enough.

I focus on understanding the deeper factors that have shaped your sense of self, like old patterns, internalised expectations, and the ways you learned to cope.

As these dynamics become more clear, and make more sense, a stronger and more grounded sense of self often emerges naturally.