Lucy McDonald Therapy
Psychotherapy & Counselling
What I Offer
The Process
After making contact with me via email or by phone we can have a brief telephone consultation to discuss your needs and to arrange a more in depth face to face meeting if you would like to. This assessment meeting will take approximately 1 hour and it will give me chance to get to know you a little bit and understand why you have come for help. It will also be a chance for you to ask any questions you may have and for us to address any of your concerns.
Of course you don't have to commit to one option from the start but it is good to have an idea as to how you would like to work and this is something that can be explored in the assessment. Often short treatments can lead to longer term work just as longer work can be shortened as needed.
Assessments
We know that finding the right help for yourself can be a confusing and frustrating experience. If you are unsure what you are looking for, we are able to offer a one-off assessment session to help guide you to find the right help. This could include short or long term therapy, a psychiatric referral, group therapy or a recommendation for medication to be discussed with your GP. Having working in the NHS we are skilled in diagnostic assessment and knowledgeable about private, third sector and NHS services that might be of help to you.
Short Term Counselling (4-10 Sessions)
A short term treatment of counselling to address recent difficulties such as a bereavement, difficulties at work or in a relationship. This is often a good choice when you feel you simply need someone to talk to during a particularly difficult time in your life.
Psychotherapy (16 Sessions +)
For longer term work for more entrenched issues, longer term psychotherapy could be an important investment. This option is helpful for those with longstanding issues, often since childhood. It is also good for those who have lost their purpose in life and want to find a deeper meaning.
How I Work
I am psychodynamically trained and this is my theoretical foundation and principal way of working.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a therapeutic process which helps patients understand and resolve their problems by increasing awareness of their inner world and its influence over relationships both past and present. It differs from most other therapies in aiming for deep-seated change in personality and emotional development.
Its aim is to help people with serious psychological disorders to understand and change complex, deep-seated and often unconsciously-based emotional and relationship problems, thereby reducing symptoms and alleviating distress. However, it is not limited only to those with mental health problems. Many people who experience a loss of meaning in their lives or who are seeking a greater sense of fulfilment may be helped by psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Sometimes people seek help for specific reasons such as eating disorders, psycho-somatic conditions, obsessional behaviour, or phobic anxieties. At other times help is sought because of more general underlying feelings of depression or anxiety, difficulties in concentrating, dissatisfaction in work or an inability to form satisfactory relationships. Psychodynamic psychotherapy can contribute significantly to one's mental and physical health, to their sense of well-being and to their ability to manage their lives more effectively.
The relationship with the therapist is a crucial element in the work. The therapist offers a confidential and private setting which facilitates a process where unconscious patterns of one's inner world and how we relate to others become reflected in the relationship with the therapist. This process helps to gradually identify these patterns and, in becoming conscious of them, to develop the capacity to understand and change them.
“Life as a therapist is a life of service in which we daily transcend our personal wishes and turn our gaze toward the needs and growth of the other. We take pleasure not only in the growth of our patient but also in the ripple effect—the salutary influence our patients have upon those whom they touch in life.”
― Irvin D. Yalom