Kathy Osborne MA UKCP Psychotherapist & Counsellor - Chelmsford, Essex

I believe my primary responsibility with each individual that I work with to be building a space in which they feel secure enough to explore what they need to. Empathy, respect, honesty and kindness are the fundamental starting point for any healthy human relationship and key to a trusting therapeutic alliance. With this in mind, it is important that people feel able to let me know what seems to be working for them about my approach and equally comfortable to voice what they might not find helpful.

I begin my work with each person from a compassionate framework informed by the idea of Trauma and Recovery. Instead of asking "What's wrong with you?" we work together to explore how what has happened in your past could still be effecting the way in which you're living life today. I work from an Attachment-based and relational view point, meaning that we pay attention to your early significant relationships and the kind of expectations of relationships that can tend to persist from childhood into your adult relationships and friendships. I am a member of The Relational School of Psychotherapy as my own professional experience and a large body of psychological research suggests that the relationship between therapist and client is the defining factor in successful psychotherapy and counselling.

Discovering and honouring the possibility of hope, resilience and post-traumatic growth can be a defining moment in regaining power and agency for anyone in therapy. In this way, my approach will not only enable clients to have space to grieve and mourn what was lost or never there but will also celebrate what is: the tangible markers of post-traumatic growth, such as new ways of relating to others, the rediscovery of personal strengths, and a new found appreciation for life in general.

I am an experienced body-worker, trained in Body Psychotherapy, Yoga Therapy for Mental Health (including Trauma Informed Yoga), Yoga Therapy for Special Needs, Mindfulness Meditation and Restorative Yoga. I feel that this embodied knowledge has given me a deeper understanding of unspoken communications, often called symptoms, that when acknowledged and understood can be the key to recovery. My way of working gives clients the opportunity to become more aware of their body, ultimately becoming clearer about the body and mind being part of one system. This reconnection can be the difference between feeling alive and vital instead of a sense of being dead inside or stuck. I may include Mindfulness and (Trauma Informed) Yoga within a psychotherapy session when appropriate.

I continue to develop my professional skills and knowledge base, attending and running courses, workshops and reading up to date publications so that I consistently offer fresh and thoughtful therapeutic support to each person who chooses to work with me.