Understanding Your Drug and Alcohol Use

I specialise in working with addiction and trauma, with experience supporting people through a wide range of challenges. This has deepened my understanding of the complexities surrounding substance use, recovery, and the emotional difficulties that can often accompany them.

I offer a warm, empathic and non-judgemental space where you can feel safe to explore your relationship with drugs or alcohol, wherever you are on your journey.

You don’t need to have a particular label or know exactly what you want to change before reaching out. Therapy can be a space to begin making sense of what’s happening and what you might want to be different.

I work from a humanistic integrative counselling approach, drawing on different therapeutic perspectives to meet your individual needs, while keeping the therapeutic relationship at the heart of our work.

My aim is to walk alongside you as you begin to understand your relationship with substances, develop greater self-acceptance, and find healthier ways of coping.

I believe meaningful change can happen when you feel truly heard, understood and supported.

Understanding Drug and Alcohol Use

Drug and alcohol use can sometimes become a way of coping with stress, difficult emotions, loneliness, anxiety or emotional pain. In the moment, substances may provide relief, confidence, connection or a temporary escape.

Over time, however, what once felt helpful can begin to have an impact on your emotional wellbeing, relationships and everyday life.

You may be experiencing:

• Shame or self-blame

• Anxiety, low mood or unresolved trauma

• Loneliness or disconnection

• Difficulties with relationships or self-worth

• Feeling unable to reduce or change your use

• Feeling stuck in patterns that are difficult to understand or break

You may not consider yourself to have an addiction. You may simply feel that your relationship with drugs or alcohol is becoming difficult, or that you want to understand it better.

You don’t have to wait until things reach crisis point before seeking support.

How Drug and Alcohol Use Can Affect You

Difficulties with substance use can affect different areas of life, including:

• Emotional wellbeing and mental health

• Relationships and connection with others

• Work and everyday life

• Confidence and self-worth

• Your ability to cope with difficult emotions

Many people feel stuck, ashamed or worried about being judged, which can make asking for help difficult.

Therapy offers a confidential space where you can talk openly about your experiences without judgement.

Support and Approach

Together, we may explore:

• Understanding patterns around your substance use

• Reducing shame and self-blame

• Developing healthier ways of coping

• Building emotional resilience

• Understanding underlying emotions and experiences

• Reconnecting with yourself and others

I believe change happens through understanding rather than judgement.

Professional Experience

Alongside my private practice, I bring experience from both community services and residential rehabilitation settings.

I also work within a residential rehabilitation setting, supporting clients through structured recovery programmes, individual therapy and therapeutic group work.

This experience allows me to support people at different stages  whether you are questioning your use, considering making changes, experiencing dependence, or working towards recovery.

How I Work

My approach is collaborative, gentle and centred around you.

Therapy is a space where all parts of you are welcome, including the parts that may feel messy, conflicting or difficult to talk about.

You don’t need to have everything figured out. We can make sense of it together.

If you are struggling with drug or alcohol use, or feeling stuck in cycles of shame, isolation or emotional pain, you don’t have to face it alone.