Anxiety
Can appear in different forms and at different levels of intensity. It may range from a small twinge of unease to a full blown panic attack – heart palpitations, sweating and a fear of dying. It can occur in response to a particular situation or there may be no apparent trigger. Other anxiety conditions I treat are panic attacks, phobias, PTSD, obsessions and compulsions, generalised anxiety and health anxiety.
Depression
While it’s normal to feel flat or low for short periods of time, depressed people feel this way for weeks, months or even years. It affects relationships, work, it may make you sad, irritable, angry, frightened, overwhelmed, desperate and confused. Other people don’t seem to understand it and many actually think you can snap out of it or get over it. It’s not that easy. I also treat pre and post-natal depression.
Bullying
Bullying can be subtle and insidious or overt. In most cases the results are devastating. If a child is being bullied, it affects their self-esteem, self-worth and self-confidence. It may make children depressed and anxious and may affect their school work, friendships and lead to school refusal. I also treat victims of adult bullying.
Low Self-Esteem
Whether child, teenager or adult. A person’s self-esteem may have been damaged by life events, problems with relationships and lead to a person feeling not good enough. They may feel no good, that others are always better than they are, or useless and unworthy. Counselling will help with techniques and strategies to improve your self-esteem and prevent it from affecting you all through your life.
Parenting
Parenting can be the toughest job in the world. If you are struggling with tantrums, excessive fighting, sleep problems, out of control behaviour and discipline problems – you are not alone. During my training as a psychologist, I taught parenting programs and I continue to see parents with challenging teens and kids. I love to work with parents and hear about the changes they make.
Resilience
As we know some children grow up just fine in high risk environments while others struggle to cope with fairly normal challenges. Resilience is something that can be learned. So does your teen have difficulty with strong emotions (anger or sadness), do they feel overly anxious or shy? Do you feel they are being bullied and lack assertiveness? Are there school issues or concerns? Kids need to be flexible and adaptable and feel confident in themselves and their abilities. This doesn’t just affect children and teens. Adults can also be helped greatly.
Weight Loss
People who struggle with their weight spend their lives on diets, are often very distressed by the excess weight, and long to eat ‘normally’. They feel helpless and at the mercy of their eating.
I believe it’s not the weight that’s the problem. I believe there’s another, underlying problem that causes you to overeat as a way of dealing with your overwhelming emotions.
In my weight loss sessions, I focus on the underlying problem, as well as changing people’s behaviour and thinking around food. My aim is for you to lose weight and keep it off forever.
This approach isn’t a quick fix – you won’t lose five kilos in five minutes. But you will gain insight into why you’re overeating, and knowledge on how to break the cycle.
Symptoms of being overweight that respond to a psychological approach include:
- Feeling out of control around food
- Living with the starve/binge cycle
- Eating in secret or when you’re alone
- Pretending that you’re fine with your weight when you’re not
- Binge eating
- Eating rabbit food all the time but then bingeing on ‘forbidden’ food
- Being obsessed with healthy food but eating over-large portions
I have been working with overweight and obese clients for many years, and have gained a reputation in the media and with local doctors and health professionals.