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Welcome

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Starting therapy can be daunting. It’s a profound and unfamiliar exploration into yourself, and the start of what can become a profound relationship with another human being. You need the right person to entrust with your deepest and most vulnerable self, who will be by your side as you walk this path backwards into your childhood, forwards towards your hopes, dreams and fears, and inwardly into your most uncomfortable emotions.

I may be the right person to accompany you on this enriching, transformative, yet sometimes painful, journey. Or I may not. Some of knowing this will be down to chemistry, as in any relationship. Some of it will be down to how I work, and whether this feels like the right fit for you. So let me tell you a little bit about that.

First, the formal bit. I am an integrative embodied-relational psychotherapist with an advanced diploma and an MA from The Minster Centre in London. I am a registered member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and abide by their ethical framework. I am in ongoing, regular supervision and consistently undertake further trainings and courses as part of my continuing professional development. I am also a qualified yoga teacher and ‘trauma sensitive’ yoga teacher. 

 

I began as a counsellor in 2013, working in the NHS, in tertiary education, and in a charity. On completing my psychotherapy training in 2015 I started my private practice. This was initially in person, but since Covid it is almost exclusively online, although I also do some hybrid work from either London or Brighton, on an occasional basis.

I work with individual adults over the age of 18, and with a wide range of issues. This may include anxiety, depression, trauma, post-traumatic stress, self-esteem, body issues, anger, grief, or any of the myriad other issues we are all struggling with in today’s complex and challenging environment.

I work in a way that is fundamentally psychodynamic, relational and attachment focused. I am also influenced by research into the primacy of affect, implicit knowing and attunement, as well as with models of multiple selves or complexes. My more than three decades of yoga practice mean I believe nervous system regulation to be essential in any therapeutic work, and I see the body as an equally important and inseparable co-communicator. I therefore work holistically with body and mind together. This may involve – should you wish it – some mindfulness, visualisation, breathwork, even occasionally movement, being integrated into our sessions. Whether you have a faith or not, I am happy to explore any thoughts or feelings about the transpersonal you may be curious about.

 

My most recent explorations have been into Jungian depth psychology, particularly regarding archetypes and the role of myths, imagination and storytelling, and how they can enhance psychotherapy.

Everything is of course completely optional, this is your therapy, and I will be guided first and foremost by your needs and wishes.

I have recently graduated from the MIND Foundation in Germany, having spent 15 months training on their Augmented Psychotherapy programme. This enables me to work psychotherapeutically with anyone who has experienced expanded states, whether these have occurred spontaneously or have been induced through meditation, breath work or the ingestion of psychedelic substances. Research shows that an expanded state rarely results in long-lasting life changes on its own. Integration therapy to help you make meaning and apply insights from the experience, is key to longer term transformation. If you are considering working in an expanded state I can help you consider this. And if you have already experienced an altered state I can work with you to integrate the learning that has been evoked. I am not, however, able to offer any guidance on, nor facilitate any work with illegal substances.

In addition to my clinical work, I am a tutor and offer workshops to therapists and other health professionals on a variety of subjects including grief, self-regulation, and trauma-sensitive yoga. I also facilitate grief sharing circles for members of the public. Please get in contact for further information on any of these, or if you would like to arrange a consultation session regarding personal therapy.

“I have recently participated in a workshop about loss with Sasha Bates ahead of the publication of her book, Languages of Loss.
As a therapist, working with bereaved clients, I wanted to learn what is often the hardest challenge of all: finding the language around grief, death, loss and bereavement.

Sasha shone a tender and hopeful light through the dark clouds of this painful topic. In her respectful, humorous, intelligent and honest manner she deeply engaged a room full of people who laughed, cried, opened up and shared their experiences too.

Sasha taught us not to shy away from the topic and to invite any feelings and emotions into the dialogue. She shared with us her own experience of coping with loss through poems and intimate personal journaling.

I want to wish you Sasha good luck with your book and in your healing and inspirational journey.”

 

Sharon Kaplansky, psychotherapist

If you would like more information about starting therapy, or if you are interested in any of my talks and workshops, please fill in the form below:

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