Sarah Woodward
Integrative Psychotherapist MBACP UKCP
BA Hons Msc Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy
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There are numerous motivations for seeking the support of a therapist; a specific current issue or crisis, enduring emotional or relational difficulties, loss, or bereavement. The desire for personal insight, growth, self-development and many more. During times of uncertainty, it can be helpful to have a safe, calm and non-judgemental space to talk, process and work through difficulties. Gaining insight and understanding of the here and now through the lens of the past often enables the discovery and development of new ways of being, thinking and relating that are less compromised by past experiences. I can help to nurture and facilitate this process at a pace that suits your wants and needs. I have benefited from therapy at challenging times in my life which I feel has enabled me to empathise and gain a deeper understanding of what taking the first steps towards therapy can be like.
My approach is inclusive, considering an individual’s subjective perspective and circumstance from a social, cultural, and psychological perspective. Offering insights that are in the best interests of your therapeutic development, I aim to facilitate the promotion of agency, autonomy and ownership. I’m trauma-informed working with aspects of humanism, existentialism and contemporary psychodynamic theoretical approaches. I fundamentally believe that effective therapeutic practice is underpinned by the relationship between the therapist and client, so developing a strong, robust alliance, and offering an inclusive and supportive environment for you to navigate the therapeutic process is essential to the way we work. My diverse life and work experience give me the ability to be resilient, resourceful and highly adaptable in providing support to a wide range of clients. I will walk alongside you, as a kind witness, offering a non-judgemental space, meeting you where you are.
I have significant experience in the field of addiction and hold specialist expertise in this area; attending to the addiction issue or addictive process while also working on addressing the underlying traumas which have led to the addictive cycle. I also work with family members in order to help them navigate their own way through the impact of the addiction on their lives. I have extensive training and experience working with complex bereavement, grief, loss and endings. My approach to working with bereavement has been influenced by the notion that we of 'grow around our grief’, moving away from more linear models and focussing on an individual’s felt and lived experience of their loss. I have further informed my practice through my work with the Body Dysmorphia Foundation as a CBT group facilitator for the charity. I work with BDD in my private practice which can be accompanied by disordered eating which has been a specialism of mine for some years. I work specifically with systemic trauma which often occurs in one’s early developmental stages and has significant implications for a person’s relationship to self and others. Relational trauma affects attachment style or ability to be in relationship to other, to process and regulate emotional states and our sense of self; self-esteem and self-confidence. Engagements Include: