Before you come
What actually happens
What holds people back from calling is rarely the fee or the time: it is not knowing what they are walking into. So here, without embellishment, is how a first appointment goes.
Free 15-minute first call
You arrive
You are not walking into a medical office. It is a bright glazed veranda, open to the daylight. There is no waiting room: I let you in, and we sit down. You choose where you sit.
We start wherever you want
I will not ask you to tell everything from the beginning. My first question is simple: what makes today the day, rather than six months ago? If you do not know what to answer, that is an answer too.
What you are not required to do
You do not have to tell everything. You do not have to have a goal. You do not have to cry, nor to hold back tears. There is no exercise you must do if you do not want to. And if contact might help, I suggest it beforehand: you can say no, and it changes nothing about what follows.
The body comes in gently
At some point I may draw your attention to your breathing, or to a shoulder that rose while you were speaking. Nothing more. That is what body work is: paying attention to what happens while we talk. We go exactly as slowly as you wish.
We stop on time
I give notice a few minutes before the end, so that nothing stops mid-sentence. We take the time to close, and to come back into the day.
And afterwards
We decide together whether there is a next step, and at what pace. You are perfectly free to leave saying you want to think about it, or that I am not the right person. That is an acceptable answer, and it will not offend me.
Only one thing is asked of you
To come. Everything else is built from there.
When words are not enough
Sometimes we circle round something without managing to say it. When that happens, I may suggest going a way other than words, not as an exercise, but because it is often the shortest route. These are ways in, not a method, and no artistic ability is required.
Music
Listening, or playing. There is nothing you need to be able to do: what matters is what loosens, or what comes up, while you listen.
Drawing
A line, a colour, a shape. It is often what the hand does when you are not looking at it that says most exactly where you are.
Movement
Standing up, shifting your weight, occupying the room differently. A great deal loosens simply by changing position.
None of this is compulsory, and nothing is ever shown to anyone.
And online?
It unfolds the same way. You simply need somewhere you will not be disturbed and where you can speak aloud without being overheard. Plan to be settled five minutes early: starting a session while hunting for headphones is already starting tense.
A first message is enough
You do not need to know what to say, or to explain your situation. A simple hello is enough to begin.
The first fifteen-minute call is free, with no obligation.