Welcome.
Therapy isn’t about being told what to do, how to think, or what to feel. Rather, it is about entering an open, non-judgmental space in which you can explore your self and your story: your past, your present, and your future. It’s a place in which you come to truly ‘know what you know and feel what you feel’. From that place, the possibility of change arises.
I am Sophie, a humanistic therapist offering in-person sessions in Hackney and Islington. My approach is grounded and warm, rooted in deep compassionate listening.
If you are looking for a diagnosis, a quick-fix, or a directive therapist who will tell you what to do in six sessions or less, I may not be the right person for you. Nevertheless, if you choose to work with me, our sessions will move forward with intelligence and intent. Together, we will find the path through the woods.
”…Let this darkness be a bell tower, and you the bell.”
- RILKE
Qualifications & Training
I am a qualified psychotherapist and counsellor, having completed a four-year training in humanistic psychotherapy and counselling at HOMA in London. I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and I abide by the BACP’s Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy.
I believe that it is essential for therapists to continue their own psychotherapeutic work and for that reason I continue to be in therapy. I also have a supervisor with whom I discuss my client work, and I engage in continuous professional learning and development.
I am committed to providing a space that is inclusive and respectful of all, regardless of background, body, race, religion, sexuality or gender-identity.
Me & therapy
I came to therapy at a point in my life when I was outwardly doing just fine. Yes, I had been through difficult things: significant losses, some dark experiences in the woodshed. But hasn’t everyone? I had an interesting job, a lovely family, good friends. I saw myself as a survivor, not a victim.
And yet, I felt lost, at the very heart of my being. And therapy was the last place that I looked to for answers. I thought it was something for other, more fragile creatures than me. Worse than that: it was hopelessly self-indulgent, would turn me into a monster of self-absorption and destroy all my relationships to boot. I was dragged kicking and screaming to my therapist’s chair.
But through therapy I found a new way of understanding myself: who I am, how I came to be, how and why I relate to others in the ways that I do. And through that knowing, my life, my whole way of being in the world has transformed. I have been opened out to life in a way that I would not have thought possible, could not have predicted or understood.
My belief is that this is the glory that therapy offers. It is a space where your experiences, your patterns of being and ways of relating can be brought into your full awareness. A place in which you will come to know yourself, in your pain and in your joy. From that knowing comes the possibility of making new and different choices: of living a life that is more intentional and more fulfilled.
Since then, as well as continuing to engage in talking therapy I have worked with eco-therapy (dancing in the forest) and with practices inspired by shamanism. I bring what I have learned, and continue to learn from these wild and powerful experiences to the work that I do.
Before becoming a therapist, I trained and worked as an actress, and then as a lawyer in the public sector. From my time as an actress I bring the knowledge that we are story-telling creatures, and that there is a peculiar and particular magic that can happen in the space between two people talking. From my time as a lawyer I bring a deep commitment to social justice, as well as experience of what living and working in the modern world is like - how its pains and pleasures find their ways into our bodies and our souls.
Starting therapy can feel daunting…
Whether you’re ready to begin or just want to ask a few questions, I’m here when you want to take the first small step.