Welcome
Central London Psychotherapy and counselling face to face and online
Hello, I'm Grania. I've written a little bit below about myself and the kind of training I've had as well as some thoughts which might resonate with you if you are thinking about starting therapy.
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An abiding interest in how we make sense of our world and strive to be happy and fulfilled as well as a curiosity about what might sometimes stand in our way ultimately led me to train as a therapist, and so I bring my life experience as much as my formal training to what I offer.
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While I originally studied Psychology and Philosophy, I have worked for years in business, starting out in book publishing and newspapers, ultimately ending up as a change and engagement consultant for large corporate transformations. So I have first hand awareness of the challenges and stresses that often come with demanding business roles.
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I provide safe and confidential face to face psychotherapy and counselling from my practice in central London as well as online to clients in the UK and Europe. I work with adult individuals.
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My training means I have a philosophy that underpins my practice and an ethical framework that I adhere to but, in essence, therapy is about two people meeting and talking and I will meet you where you are, with whatever is going on for you, without judgement.
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Have a look at some of the reasons people seek therapy and how it can be helpful, below. Read more about my qualifications and experience in About Me and find out what therapy might be like to experience in How we might work together. I list Areas of Expertise as a guide rather than a menu or list of exclusions.​
I am a registered psychotherapist with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapists (UKCP), which monitors and ensures the highest ethical standards are adhered to in practice.
I am also a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP Registered No 409220). In addition I am a member of EMDR Association UK and Europe (Member No 176007).
I trained over a five year period at the Metanoia Institute, a leading Psychotherapy training institute in London where I gained my MSc and Clinical Diploma in Gestalt Psychotherapy. UKCP Accreditation is the highest level of accreditation available in the UK for Psychotherapists.
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I have recently completed EMDR standard training and offer that as an additional approach.
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As part of safe and ethical practice I have regular supervision both for my regular practice and for my EMDR offer.
Prior to training qualifications I gained an MSc in Organisational Change at Ashridge Business School. I have a BA in Philosophy from the University of London and a BA in Psychology from University College Dublin.
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A little more about me
I grew up in a small town in Ireland and lived briefly in New York and Los Angeles. I currently live in London.
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Over the years I have experienced several different kinds of therapy myself including Jungian, Group Analytic and Integrative for example, as well as Gestalt and EMDR as part of my training in these modalities. While each approach has its particular lens and I found some more useful than others, the key aspect that made a difference was the relationship I had with the therapist. Research into effectiveness of psychotherapy supports this view too. I share this in case it's useful when trying to find a therapist to work with.
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The advice to 'trust your gut' when looking to find a therapist may not be helpful if understanding and trusting your instincts is one of the reasons you are seeking therapy. Feeling safe is paramount and a sense that the connection between you and a therapist is 'good enough' can be a useful starting point.
I practice from welcoming and comfortable rooms in central London and offer online as well as face to face therapy.
There are many reasons people seek therapy. You may be distressed, curious, upset, wanting more of some things in your life and less of others. You may wonder about how you approach life and the choices you see available to you and the choices you make. As you explore what it means to be you, right now, in the life that you have, I offer my presence alongside as a non-judgemental, curious and supportive other in a safe, confidential space.
For some of us, there may be a realisation that some of the ways we learned to keep ourselves safe, instead of protecting us, are keeping us stuck. Sometimes we need to untangle our feelings and thoughts about the present or about the past in order to step forward with curiousity and flexibility into our future.
Painful events endured alone might keep us separate and removed from full engagement in our lives, or dreams of how things could or should be gets in the way of our seeing how things are and what is within our power and agency to change.
We may feel we are missing a sense of community or belonging and want to break out of a set pattern in our lives but feel unable to know where to start and how to make that first step on a different road.
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Therapy can help us to acknowledge pain and loss as well as rightfully own what is ours to celebrate, releasing us to live a more satisfying life and make choices that serve us well.
Some of the areas I work with
Anger
- managing anger, accessing anger, recognising anger, expressing anger
Anxiety
- social anxiety, performance anxiety, anxious internal thoughts, anxiety avoidance, fear of anxiety, obsessive or compulsive patterns of behaviour or thinking
Childhood Emotional Neglect
- trauma and loss, how we respond when feeling threatened or fearful, where and how do we get our safety or sense of belonging
Depression
- feeling numb, disconnected and unable to access feelings
Existential questions of meaning
- each stage of life brings its own questions of meaning and purpose and as we age we might begin to wonder about legacy and meaning or about courage and energy to continue exploration, we might need to come to terms with what has been achieved and what has been lost and what might be yet to come.
Grief
- loss and grief for friends, for different lives, for partners, pets, family, for ourselves and what might have been and the choices we made
Hypervigilance
Lack of access to feelings
Life stage transitions
Loss
Low mood
Overwhelm
Panic attacks
Preparing for the Third Act of Life
Self esteem
Self harm
Suicidal feelings
Trauma
The psychotherapy I offer is humanistic and relational, which means that we speak together about what you bring. Meeting face to face or on zoom,
trusting in the process that what shows up or comes to mind in the immediate will be relevant. While being alongside you with empathy, I may share what I observe of our process of being together for our joint inquiry and curiosity. I may also share some of what is going on for me as we work shoulder to shoulder to explore your own ways of being in the world.
I trained in Gestalt therapy which has its underpinnings in existential philosophy - responsibility for our choices; Zen Buddhism - focus on the here and now; and embodiment - interconnectedness of body and mind, with a core belief that we carry within us the wisdom to know what we need to live authentically, given the right conditions and context.
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I also offer EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy which is a therapy that has been found to be especially useful for processing trauma, whether single event such as an accident or complex post traumatic stress from the events in the past. EMDR is a standardised, eight-phase, trauma-focused therapy. It is intended to help your mind process difficult memories that still upset you. While targeting these memories you’ll follow movements with your eyes. It is an approach that is integrated into my existing psychotherapeutic practice. This means that we spend a number of sessions building trust and safety before we begin to process any disturbing memories.
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If there is a concept of health underpinning my approach, it is about finding a way to live flexibly, responsively and authentically. Every ‘symptom’ serves or once served a purpose, the question is whether it still keeps you safe or is holding you back.
Get in Touch
M: +44 7979 647577
Availability
​I'm happy to offer an initial 15 minute phone call if you'd like to talk first to get a sense of me and my approach or have some questions.
What I usually suggest is a first session at a slightly reduced fee so that we can meet to get a sense of each other and see if it looks like we can work together. We would talk about this in the session.
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Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at
City Therapy Rooms,
33 Furnival Street, EC4A 1JQ.
Nearest Tube is Chancery Lane.
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Online availability outside of these times throughout the week. I also offer a number of low cost online places.
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Fees
Face to Face psychotherapy:
33 Furnival Street
£95.00 per 50 minute session
(£75 initial session)
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Online:
£75 per 50 minute session
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