How I work
Understanding first. Change follows.
My counselling is integrative, drawing from psychodynamic, humanistic and relational approaches. I also use the R-Model framework to understand how trust, safety and connection shape our experiences and relationships.
The foundations
Four threads run through everything I do. They are not a fixed method, but the lens I work from, adapted to whatever you bring.
Integrative
I do not believe one approach fits every person. My work is integrative, drawing from several therapeutic traditions so that what we do together is shaped around you, not the other way around.
Psychodynamic
We look at how your past experiences, attachments and relationships shape the way you feel and respond now. Awareness of those patterns is where lasting change begins.
Humanistic
I start from the belief that you already have much of what you need to grow. The relationship between us is central: warm, honest and built on genuine regard for who you are.
Relational
Relationships shape everything: the one we have with ourselves, with the people closest to us, and with the wider world. Much of my work focuses there, because that is where both our wounds and our growth live.
The R-Model framework
Trust, safety and connection.
Alongside the therapeutic traditions above, I work with the R-Model framework. It offers a way of understanding how trust, safety and connection shape our experiences and our relationships, with ourselves and with others.
When those foundations are damaged, by trauma, by difficult relationships, by the ordinary hardships of life, much of what we struggle with follows. When they are repaired, change becomes possible.
What the R-Model helps us understand
- RHow early relationships shape the trust we can offer and receive.
- RWhy safety, not insight alone, makes change possible.
- RHow connection is built, broken and repaired.
- RWhere our patterns with others come from, and how they shift.
What you can expect
Whatever approach we use, these four qualities hold steady throughout our work together.
Safe & Confidential
A trusted space where you can be yourself, without judgement or fear.
Collaborative
We work together at your pace, on what matters most to you.
Insight Led
Understanding creates choice. Choice creates change.
Meaningful Change
Real change that fits your life and your values, not a one-size answer.
Want the detail?
The therapy approaches, in plain English.
If you would like to understand the specific approaches I draw on, from existential to CBT, gestalt and somatic work, the modalities page explains each one without the jargon.
Explore the Modalities"Healing isn't usually about becoming someone new. More often, it's about finding your way back to yourself."
Andrew Boyton
Curious whether this way of working fits?
A first conversation is free and confidential: a chance to see whether we are the right fit.
Book a Session