Clare Hughes (my pronouns are she/her)

I offer time limited or open ended psychodynamic therapy. This is usually once a week but I can also offer sessions twice a week.

I trained with the UPCA on the Masters Programme in Psychodynamic Practice at Oxford University, an in-depth and rigorous personal, theoretical and clinical training.

I am a member of the UKCP and BACP and follow their codes of ethics.

I will work with you by helping you to think about the issues you are facing now or have gone through in the past, to help you make sense of them and to process painful or difficult feelings. In bringing these feelings and experiences to the fore there is the possibility of finding clarity. You might feel stuck and the work may be challenging at times. You might be unsure about what you are feeling or what you need to think about. The aim is to get to the root of things to make long-lasting change.

Working psychodynamically means that we will think about your current feelings or symptoms and see how these may be affected and shaped by your past experiences. In giving attention to experience, and feelings that surface in our work together, there is the possibility of processing difficult feelings and moving out of a stuck state of mind or repetitive patterns of thinking and behaviour.

The work will be relational and both thoughts and feelings in the mind and in the body will be acknowledged and held carefully. I seek to be anti-racist, being aware of privilege and unconscious bias, and I welcome people of all gender identities, relationship and sexual orientations.

In addition to my clinical training I have conducted research in the area of loss and grief and, in particular, suicide bereavement. Engaging in academic research has given me the opportunity to explore ways of working and understanding our own experiences and also wider societal influences. My clinical practice is a growing developing work enhanced through my own learning, continuing professional development and supervision.