Sarah Hanison

I practice in a warm and client-centred way working holistically and tailoring my skills to match your needs. I am trained in a number of modalities: psychodynamic, humanistic, existential and transpersonal psychotherapies, and work in a variety of creative ways; as well as listening and reflecting and relating, I also include Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and related energy therapies (e.g., Matrix Reimprinting), mindfulness and meditation, body and breath work, Gestalt therapy, multi-modal CBT, visualisation, drawing, sand play and working with dreams and archetypal material.

EFT, also known as tapping, is a scientifically-proven technique for releasing emotional blockages from the body's energy system. It is a very safe and effective technique for the healing of trauma, PTSD, phobias and addictions, stress, anxiety and panic, depression, negative belief systems - it benefits most things, and results are usually very fast, with improved feelings of calm and wellbeing.

Matrix Reimprinting and Matrix Birth Reimprinting utilises EFT and visualisation techniques that offer a very effective way in processing and clearing deep trauma without having to relive the actual event and risk retraumatisation. They also help to uncover core unconscious negative beliefs and behavioural patterns and transform them. Matrix Birth Reimprinting helps to gently clear trauma and stress that took place at conception, in utero, birth, and the hours and days after being born. It is also potentially helpful for infertility issues, loss of a child, miscarriage, abortion, and adoption.

To help you decide whether you would like to work with me I offer a free-of-charge preliminary chat lasting 15 to 20 minutes where you can find out more about me and how I work and I can answer any questions you may have.

If we decide to work together I will send you a pre-therapy questionnaire, therapy agreement and GDPR agreement. The pre-therapy questionnaire allows me to get to know a little more about you before our first session and is treated in the strictest confidence. The therapy agreement is a practical guideline for the framework of therapy while the GDPR agreement details how I use and store your personal information.

During our first session we will work collaboratively to address your goals and expectations for therapy and how we are going to work together to get you where you want to be. I often suggest beginning by simply looking at what is happening in your life right now, and everything else, your life story, the big life themes, tends to naturally evolve from this.

If this is your very first time in therapy and you are understandably feeling nervous and not sure what to expect please be assured that the whole process will happen very naturally and will always go at your pace.

You may also decide I am not the right therapist for you, and that is absolutely fine; I will respect any decision you make. Likewise, if I feel that I am not the right therapist for you then I will make this clear and suggest other relevant therapist names and avenues of help.

First and foremost, our work together is centred on building a relationship where you feel safe and more at ease. This is about your story, about weaving together the narrative of your life; it is you who knows your sorrows and joys, your thoughts and feelings. My role is to understand what life is like for you as we work collaboratively to make sense of your experiences; to help you unearth the inner resources and personal qualities you already possess to cope better and discover new ways of being and relating. Sometimes life’s challenges really do offer unique opportunities for growth.

I very much look forward to working with you.