My approach to Gestalt Psychotherapy and EMDR in Lisbon, Portugal and London, UK.

Together we explore what brings you to therapy. I trust that as a result of our sessions you will come to a point where you are able to make more empowered choices. As part of my holistic therapeutic approach I invite you to notice the whole of your experience from body, mind, emotions as well as how you experience yourself in the room with me. I view all of this as information on how past experiences impact your present.

Gestalt therapy

I trained for six years and got accredited as a Gestalt individual and group therapist. This approach fundamentally informs my approach. I also taught Gestalt Therapy theory and practice on the MA Programme at the Gestalt Centre, London, UK.

Gestalt theory posits that we have an innate drive for growth and integration and that as a therapist my job is to facilitate you to connect with this innate ability. 

I do not ‘fix’ you or tell you what to do. To do so would be to disempower you and wouldn’t lead to sustainable change.

I support you to find your own new creative way of being in the world you create lasting positive changes that best suit you in your situation.  

One way I support you to do this is by raising your awareness of unhelpful ways of thinking and doing. These were the best way to manage your childhood environment so they are not ‘wrong’. 

For example, we might have learned to make ourselves small to keep out of the way of an erratic and violent parent. This kept us safe. However if we keep on making ourselves ‘small’ as adults we are not taken seriously and get taken advantage of.  

Gestalt therapy helps us to gain awareness of behaviours and beliefs that we took on to survive that we now do automatically without thinking and don’t serve us.

Gestalt therapy is a phenomenological approach which means it places a lot of value on the present. I explore with you how your ‘issue’ is showing up in the present. 

It is an existential therapy which means it emphasises the influence we have over our situation. We are able to change our response. In a session we might experiment with changing your response. 

I might invite you to imagine your boss is in the room and you respond to them differently. This is not supposed to be a role play, just a way to try out a different way of showing up in the world. 

Gestalt is holistic and takes into consideration the whole of your experience: body, mind and emotion. In a session I often ask what’s happening in your body as you say something or enquire what the movement might be that goes with a thought. Listening to all of you gives us more insights and understanding. 

Gestalt is a relational therapy. We develop ways of being that currently don’t serve us as a result of relational trauma. . We can also heal in relationship.

I provide a safe space with containing boundaries where I intend to help you feel seen and heard. I may at times share my emotional or physical response to you if I think it will shed light on your process and what we are trying to shift. 

I work on the Gestalt premise that all of our actions, even those viewed as negative, have a creative function. Therefore the aim is not to get rid of them but rather to own them more fully. By doing so we work with, not against your creative energy and open up the possibility to do things differently and to lead a fuller and richer life. I do this in a gentle, compassionate way with respect for your own pace whilst at the same time allowing opportunities to try different ways of expressing yourself, in the safety of the therapy session.

Due to my additional training in and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) as well as knowledge of Schema Therapy and Sensorimotor Therapy, I am able to tailor your therapy to suit your exact needs.

What next?

If you are interested in how we might work together please contact me by email or phone for an initial assessment session. This is your chance to ask me questions and for me to find out more about you. We then decide whether to commit to an initial six sessions. If so then after these we review what worked and any further work needed. Therapy can be short – term if you have a specific issue that you wish to focus. Longer - term therapy is suitable for more deep-seated change and for those who have been impacted by negative childhood experiences experiences.

I am based in Alfragide, Lisbon, Portugal. I also see clients online in London, UK and internationally.