Cordelia Gray
Psychotherapist
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I believe people can change. I believe it because I have seen it both with clients and in myself. No matter how lost, confused, anxious, depressed, stuck or frustrated you're feeling, things can change, you can gain greater clarity and feel more settled and at ease in the world.
Using the arts enables you to connect to your inner knowing and awareness. You already have the capacity to make changes and have greater freedom in your everyday life, my role is to support and guide you in that process.
You may want to develop more balance in your day to day life or enable more creativity and ease in your life. I can support you in that process to develop greater self acceptance.
Specialises in: My training is as an Integrative Arts Psychotherapist, I support people to develop their own inner knowing using a variety of creative means. This could including talking, working with sensations in the body, images, metaphors, movement, dreams, postcards and drawing.
Can help you with: Anxiety, Depression, long term health conditions, trauma, PTSD, developing more compassion for yourself and others, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, personal growth, developing intuitive knowing, developing effective communication,
Issues related to childbearing - unexpected pregnancy, infertility, pregnancy, birth trauma, post natal depression, Assisting parents in gaining perspective and strategies in managing the challenges of parenting, recovering a sense of balance and well being.
I have been working as a psychotherapist for over twenty years. I have a wide range of experience in the NHS, University, Third Sector organisations and in private practice. Prior to that I worked in the community with people with acute mental health conditions and as a Management Trainer focusing on effective communication, assertiveness, management skills and coaching.
I have written research papers and spoken at conferences in my current NHS role. I also offer supervision to psychotherapists and counsellors and others in the helping professions. I believe our innate creativity and imagination enables people to get a new perspective on their problems and helps them to develop their own inner knowing when faced with issues in their lives.
My approach is integrative which means that I draw on a variety of theories to inform my work. My main influence is Gestalt and its emphasis on the here and now, the relationship between therapist and client and creative experiments. I also use psycho-dynamic theory, transactional analysis, I also draw on cognitive behavioural concepts ideas such as compassion focused therapy as well as using mindfulness.
I encourage curiosity and increased awareness in what is happening both in your current life and what happens in the relationship. In particular, I work with what you are noticing in your body in a moment by moment way. My focus is to support the individual to feel safer and more grounded in day to day life and so to feel more able to be fully themselves.
Some things are hard to put into words, using your imagination, images, metaphor, dreams and art can help provide a more integrated, embodied and fuller expression that through just talking. Using the arts bypassing our left brain logic and reason to enable our right brain to come up with creative solutions to support change or greater self acceptance.
The arts provide a safe, containing way to look at things that are painful or too traumatic to put into words. I have extensive experience working with trauma and work in a trauma informed way, ensuring that the work is paced and gentle. I completed a somatic trauma training with Babette Rothschild and value her common sense approach to working with people.
Why should you choose to work with me?
If you would like more flexibility and spaciousness in your life, more capacity to care for yourself and feel more creative and grounded in your day to day life or are curious about why the same things keep happening to you then you would benefit from working with me. If you want to develop more trust in yourself and your inner knowing then you would benefit from working with me.