I work with people over the age of 18, one-to-one - so I don’t work with minors or couples. I do, however, have colleagues who work with these groups, so feel free to make contact if you’re looking for help finding someone to work with a child or a couple.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is about figuring out what’s going on in the deeper parts of our minds, the parts we aren’t always aware of. We become aware of them when we surprise ourselves by our behaviours or thoughts, or when we get stuck in repetitive cycles.

Many other approaches to mental health treatment only address behaviours on the surface of our lives and don’t dig deeper to see what’s going on underneath them. Those approaches tend to be briefer in duration and more limited in their focus.

What is specific to a psychoanalytic approach is the idea that making permanent changes in our lives requires an understanding of our deeper motivations or we just slide back into past behaviours.

The first session lasts up to an hour and is an opportunity for you to speak about what has brought you to therapy. I need to hear you speak in detail about your life in order to help you most effectively, and I’ll ask you questions to help you open things up more, and bring your attention to some of the things you say that seem particularly significant. I’ll tell you more about how things work, and the structure of sessions, relating everything that I say to what you have spoken about.

What you might want to get out of any form of therapy will determine the best type for you, so it’s a good idea to compare and contrast some approaches online.

If you want to better understand yourself this approach offers a supportive place to explore how you might change your life for the better. It can help you clarify what motivates you, and figure out how and why you keep getting stuck in repetitive cycles.

How long someone engages in this therapy depends on what they want to get from it – but a good rule of thumb is that the longer you’ve lived with what you want to change the longer you should expect that change to take. Positive benefits can be felt from the first meeting, but making changes that stick takes time. Engaging in therapy is work, and it has to be worked at – with consistency, and with time given to it.

That’s something that you may not be able to answer in advance, and I advise everyone that I meet for the first time to give it a few sessions in which to come to a decision about this. At the same time, no one is under any obligation at any point to continue unless they want to. You may not know exactly what you want from therapy, just that you want help.

The usual fee is €80/£70. If someone is not in full employment, or unemployed or in full time study etc. then we may agree a different, lower fee. Payment can be made by cash or cheque, but not by card or Revolut etc..

No – rather than labelling people, psychoanalytic treatment focuses on treating each person as a unique individual without pigeon-holing them or comparing them to others in standardised, limiting ways. I certainly work with people who have received such diagnoses, but they can’t be the defining element of someone’s life.

Yes, completely. The only circumstances under which I may have to break confidence is if someone is in danger of criminal harm and alerting the Gardaí could protect them.

No, I only work through self-referral, so you would make contact directly yourself.

The first time we would meet would be up to an hour, but usually sessions last about 40 minutes.

Sessions are once a week. This is in order to keep the momentum going, and to incorporate what you’re learning about yourself into your daily life. When you feel you’ve done enough work you stop.

No. In Ireland, only a medical doctor can prescribe medications.