Therapy that helps you work with what you avoid
We don’t struggle because we are broken. We struggle because important feelings and conflicts have had to be kept out of awareness for a long time.
My work is about helping you understand and directly work with the emotional and nervous system patterns that are shaping your life now.
Welcome to change
I work with adults who feel stuck in cycles of anxiety, avoidance or self-criticism, especially when those patterns trace back to earlier emotional wounds.
Most people arrive at therapy because something in their life has stopped working. A feeling they can’t shake. A pattern they can’t break. A version of themselves they no longer want to carry, or be stuck in.
My work is about helping you see what is actually happening in your emotional system in real time, not just talking about it, but noticing how it operates and learning to work with it differently.
How we work together in therapy
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Explore
In this phase, we begin by making sense of how your emotional and nervous system are currently organised. We look at how anxiety is being generated in your body, what feelings are being avoided, and what coping patterns have developed to keep things manageable. This gives us a clear map of what is actually maintaining your difficulties.
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Engage
Here, the work becomes more active. We start to notice these patterns as they appear in real time, in your body, in your thoughts, and between us. This is where change starts to become possible, because we are no longer just talking about patterns; we are working with them as they happen.
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Emerge
At this stage, the work is focused on building the capacity to experience and integrate feelings and conflicts that were previously too much. As the nervous system no longer has to work so hard to keep things under control, symptoms loosen and long-standing patterns begin to lose their grip.
How I Work
I work in a psychodynamic and ISTDP-informed way. In practice, this means we pay close attention to:
What you’re feeling
What gets in the way of those feelings
How those patterns show up in your life today
What happens between us in real time
Emotions aren’t “problems” to get rid of. They’re signals. When we understand them, you gain more choice, more clarity, and more room to move.
What You Can Expect
Therapy with me is active, steady, and focused. You’ll get:
Space to talk honestly
Help noticing what’s happening under the surface
Support working through shame, fear, or emotional pressure
Clear guidance when you need it
A relationship where your experience is taken seriously
I don’t sit back and simply nod. I’m involved in the work. I won’t let us spend months going in circles without noticing it. I’ll help you stay with what matters.
Who I Work With
Adults across the UK who are dealing with:
High self-pressure or harsh self-criticism
Emotional avoidance
Anxiety and overwhelm
Trauma responses, feeling ‘triggered’
Difficult relationships or attachment patterns
Feeling “stuck” or shut down
Inner conflict or shame
If you want to understand yourself more deeply and build real emotional capacity, this is the work we’ll do.
What Matters Most in My Work
Honesty
Growth and safety
Curiosity
Staying with what’s real
Supporting people to move from fear into capacity
Therapy is about finally having space to tell the truth about your life and beginning to live in a way that feels more like you.
My Background
I’m an accredited psychotherapist with the BACP. My clinical work is shaped by psychodynamic thinking and ISTDP principles, focusing on how emotions, anxiety, and the ways in which we avoid shape and dictate our experience.
Before specialising in therapy, I worked in the helping professions for many years in mental health management, served as a director and board member, sat on the board of governors for DHCFT and represented community mental health charities. I had also worked in some mind numbing soul destroying places of work too! That experience taught me how complicated people can be, and how much relief there is when someone finally feels understood. I know what it means to sit in your chair, because I had some historical wounds to heal, too.
The shape of the work
Alongside my independent practice, I’ve worked at scale in an online clinical setting since 2022. This has involved several thousand sessions with a wide range of presentations, from relational trauma and emotional fragility to long-standing characterological patterns.
The work is typically long-form rather than brief or protocol-led. People usually stay once we begin, and the work tends to deepen over time rather than reset or fragment.
Book a Consultation
Ready to stop running from this?…
If what you’ve read here resonates, don’t put it off. Take the first step, reach out and let’s start making sense of what’s been holding you back.
FAQ: Therapy that helps you work with what you avoid
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Yes. I’m a trained psychodynamic psychotherapist with over 8 years of clinical experience. My professional membership and accreditation is with the BACP.
I provide safe, ethical, and confidential online therapy sessions. My training ensures you’re working with a qualified, experienced therapist who understands both the art and science of mental health and the lived experience of psychological problems and what it ultimately means to be human and/or sane in an insane world!
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I have a BSc (Hons) in Counselling Psychology (BPS accredited), a Diploma in Counselling Practice, and multiple postgraduate trainings including Single Session Therapy and forthcoming ISTDP Pre-Core training.
My background includes extensive experience across private practice, specialist eating-disorder services, and community mental-health work.
Please see the credentials page for more information
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Psychodynamic psychotherapy looks beneath the surface to uncover the unconscious patterns that drive your anxiety, depression, and relationship struggles. Unlike CBT or short-term counselling, which often focus on symptom management, psychodynamic work helps you explore and understand why you feel stuck, increasing the likelihood of long-term change. Clients often find that this approach not only reduces symptoms but also improves self-worth, intimacy, and emotional resilience.
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I trained as a psychotherapist after experiencing the life-changing impact therapy made during my own painful personal history. I’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is when someone finally feels understood. For me, this work is not about “fixing” people, but about co-creating a relationship where you can reclaim your voice, figure out your identity, and have healthy relationships.
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Yes. I work with people struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, shame, low self-worth, relationship difficulties, and self-sabotaging patterns. Many of my clients come to therapy after feeling stuck in cycles they couldn’t break alone. Therapy with me is especially effective if you want to move beyond the destructive cycles of fearing your own feelings, fearing closeness, or fearing yourself.
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I provide online therapy sessions across the UK using a secure, encrypted video platform (Doxy.me). This means you can access therapy confidentially from home or wherever you feel safe.
Many clients find that online psychotherapy is just as effective as meeting in person, with the added benefit of flexibility, accessibility and continuity of care.
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That’s really normal. Many people begin therapy unsure if it’s the right step. You don’t need to have everything figured out before you start, just the willingness to explore. In our first sessions, we’ll talk about what’s bringing you here, what you’d like to change, and whether working together feels right. Therapy is an investment in yourself, and you’ll never be pressured to continue if it doesn’t feel helpful.
Even a single session can make a difference.
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Okay, yes, I get it. You Google Rick Cox Therapy or Therapy with Rick, and you get the Rick and Morty links…
Apparently, Rick’s opinion on therapy is - When asked why he didn't want to come to therapy, an exasperated Rick expresses his disdain for the practice. “Because I invent, transform, create, and destroy for a living”