Relationships make up the social fabric of our lives. Each of our relationships have the potential to bring out different vulnerabilities within. We are wired for connection and whenever that connection feels threatened (due to the fear of possible rejection or abandonment), it can have considerable impacts on our feelings of emotional well-being and can be a trigger for past emotional traumas. If you are feeling vulnerable or anxious in your relationships, it may well have impacted your self-esteem and your ability to communicate your needs effectively. We take time to explore various themes such as your interpersonal dynamics, vulnerabilities and attachment tendencies. The aim is to develop an awareness of where you may be getting stuck in certain response patterns and their effects within your relationships. This awareness is the first step towards positive change. From here you can transform old ways of relating into new ways of connecting.
Whether you are struggling with existing relationships, past relationships, or the yearning for a new relationship, you’ve come to the right place.
I can help you to manage various areas of your relationships in the following ways:
- resolving conflict quicker: by creating the space to explore your own cycle of emotional and behavioural responses (or survival/defensive responses) and providing strategies for new adaptive ways of responding.
- managing your anger and fear: by helping you to improve your capacity to regulate your emotions within your interactions.
- improving communication: by providing skills for identifying emotions and needs and expressing them effectively.
- overcoming obstacles to boundary setting: by exploring your historical attachment tendencies and deepening your understanding of why boundary setting may have been a challenge for you up to now. From this focus, I can help you to identify and create appropriate boundaries in your current relationships.
- moving through feelings of fear and abandonment: by exploring the routes of these feelings and providing methods focused on repairing low or damaged self-esteem.
- shifting from feeling stuck to feeling empowered: by providing a space to deepen your understanding of your own processes; help with creating a new narrative that includes self-compassion; and providing methods for developing confidence in your decisions and choices moving forward.
If you are experiencing heartbreak due to a break-up
Whether the relationship was a longstanding one or lasted only a few dates, the impact of a break-up can be enormous on your emotional well-being. After a break-up, it is natural to experience many intense, confusing, and conflicting emotions that seem relentless. Feelings of loneliness, isolation, anger, and regret can be persistent, and this can impede your overall sense of self-esteem and life satisfaction.
I can help you to see the path forward by:
- creating space for exploring feelings of grief in its complexities.
- providing strategies for self-soothing so that you can feel more in control of managing your emotions.
- helping to cope with loneliness, by exploring the routes of this loss and learning what it may be saying to you; and providing a framework for shifting your perspective of loneliness away from self-judgment and towards seeing it as a natural part of your experience of loss that you have the capacity to move through.
- helping you to find meaning and personal growth through this painful experience.
If you are experiencing narcissistic injury from past and/or present relationships:
Many people who are most susceptible to this type of injury are those who describe themselves as empathic or taking on the emotions of others very easily. If you are in a relationship or have left a relationship in which you feel that you have experienced narcissistic injury by a partner, loved one, or colleague, there are ways of healing from this.
I can help by:
- providing you with information about this type of relationship injury.
- offering strategies for protecting yourself and your mental/emotional well-being, whether you are currently in a relationship or have just left one.
- creating a space for you to deepen your understanding of yourself; supporting you in recognizing your behavioural patterns; and assisting you in spotting red flags to avoid this injury in your future relationships.
- providing you with methods for rebuilding your self-esteem and confidence so that you can feel a sense of growth and empowerment moving forward.
Get help today!