Josephine Smith

Please contact me by email to arrange a suitable time for your appointment.

Hi, I am Josephine, a therapist who sees distress, rage, fear, anxiety, detachment, dissociation all the way up to psychosis as a very human reaction to overwhelming life events. I believe that every single one of us has their own limit and once that has been reached, our mental suffering can be unbearable,

I believe that feeling stressed, unable to cope, and facing unwelcome emotions, gives us vital information about something that needs to be heard and understood. Finding ourselves to be short-tempered, easily distracted, weepy, struggling to sleep, or feeling uneasy and wanting someone to talk to, are often signs that we need to pause, and make sense of something, whatever it is.

And so my aim is to really hear you as you tell your story, and to offer a sense of peace in the confusion that life will bring. Sometimes just being able to put all of whatever is going on, or whatever has happened to you, into words, or a picture, or even to act it out, is enough. Other times you may wish to look at repeating patterns in your life, or at specific situations that cause you problems. 

No matter what is happening I believe that within the pain and sorrow of life, there are specks of gold; tiny fragments and moments that reflect back something precious about you; moments of courage and strength enough to help you find new ways to be who you need to be.

My role as a therapist is to provide you with sanctuary; some time and space in which you can feel safe enough to look at whatever is going on in your life. As we talk I will do my best to work without judgement or jargon, and please rest assured - I don't shock easily. Instead I will do my best to hear and reflect your understanding of your situation, so that the picture becomes clearer and you can begin to see and understand how you wish your life to be. My aim is to help you to find hope.

If you chose to work with me, the number of sessions and when you have them is flexible. You may want a session once a week, or simply to book a session whenever it could be helpful. 

The number of sessions is your choice. This is because I try to make each session complete in itself so that you leave the session feeling better than when you came in.

But please be aware, I never make any diagnosis.

When we meet for the first therapy session, I will ask you if you are happy to agree to the statements in the agreement, and then we will begin the session.

Each therapy session will be up to 50 minutes long, and the first one will probably begin with this question: 'what has happened to you?'  And we take it from there. 

To quote Steve de Shazer: 

"If you decide to work with me, I hope our session turns out to be in some way useful for you. There are no guarantees. But I will do my best!"