Our first years of life with our primary caregivers lay important foundations of how we relate to others into adulthood (nature and nurture):

• how we were taken care of

• environmental pressures

• our temperament and genetic material.

We learn who we are, what other people are like, and how to navigate the world.

The challenges we often experience in adolescence and adulthood are rooted in earlier experiences, but need to be tended to in the present in order to create change.

Challenges you might be facing

• Communication issues

• Difficulty with conflict

• Codependency in relationships

• ‘Losing yourself’ in relationships

• Poor self-esteem

• Self-sabotage, self-doubt, criticism, imposter syndrome

Working relationally in therapy helps to develop new ways of relating to oneself, others, and the world.

Some approaches require thought, analysis, and developing understanding and insight:

• recognising dysfunctional patterns in your relationships that you would like to change

• looking at beliefs you have developed about yourself and others

Others may require or prefer approaches that work at the level of the body and felt experience.

• slowing down and noticing our reactions and responses to people and events

• tending to emotions behind relational patterns

Skills and capacities this helps to develop

• Communication skills

• Self-worth & confidence

• Stronger sense of self

• Forming new functional patterns of relating

• Boundaries, conflict, and assertiveness

• New beliefs

• Authenticity & presence