You may recognise yourself here

You may be experiencing:

• anxiety, stress or emotional overwhelm
• childhood wounds that continue affecting your adult life
• difficulty recognising or expressing feelings
• people pleasing and difficulty saying no
• low self worth or feeling that you are never enough
• relationship patterns that keep repeating
• anger, shutdown or emotional disconnection
• grief, loss or significant life changes
• feeling stuck or unsure of who you are
• difficulty trusting yourself or other people
• the impact of trauma or unsafe past experiences

Childhood wounds do not always stay in childhood

As children, we adapt to the environments around us.

We may learn to stay quiet, keep everyone happy, hide our feelings, become fiercely independent or remain alert to changes in other people’s moods.

Those responses may have helped us feel safer then. As adults, they can leave us exhausted, disconnected or reacting to situations that remind our nervous system of something much older.

Healing does not mean blaming your childhood for everything happening today.

It means understanding why certain patterns exist so you can begin choosing how you want to live, rather than continuing to be guided by what you once needed to survive.

What counselling may help you do

Counselling can support you to:

• understand your emotions rather than fear or avoid them
• recognise patterns and where they may have begun
• build boundaries without carrying overwhelming guilt
• respond to triggers with greater awareness
• reconnect with parts of yourself that were pushed aside
• develop a kinder and more realistic relationship with yourself
• communicate your needs more clearly
• make decisions that reflect your values
• build safer and healthier relationships
• feel more like yourself

You are not broken.

Some parts of you may simply have been working very hard to keep you safe.

What happens during the free call?

The free 15-minute call gives us a chance to briefly discuss what is bringing you to counselling, what you hope may change and whether I am the right counsellor to support you.

You do not need to explain everything during the call. You can share as much or as little as feels comfortable.

There is no pressure to book further sessions.

A safe place to begin

I am Fabian, a registered counsellor and the founder of Bird House Counselling.

My approach is warm, gentle and grounded. I draw on emotion focused, solution focused, psychodynamic and inner child informed approaches, depending on what feels useful for you.

Counselling with me is not about sitting across from someone who silently analyses everything you say.

It is a conversation. Sometimes it is emotional. Sometimes there is a penny drop moment. Sometimes there is room for gentle humour. Most importantly, it is a place where you do not need to pretend that you are okay.