Liz Therapy

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Therapies

About Me

Diverse & Adaptable Therapy Approach

MBACP, MA, BSc(Hons), PGDip, Integrative Counsellor and Psychotherapist

Liz’s therapeutic approach offers diversity and is adapted in accordance to your unique needs, goals and preferences. 

Her MA in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy incorporated evidence-based training led by renowned figures within their field.

Liz will be alongside you, with every step that you take. It may be that your needs are self-exploration, leading to a greater place of personal compassion and healing. Or gaining an understanding of your psychological struggles connected to your motivation, emotion and behaviour, and developing the necessary tools to make effective changes.

Personalized Integrative Therapy with Liz

The Therapies

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Liz offers CBT because it is an effective and well established, evidence-based treatment recommended by the NICE guidelines. It is a talking therapy that equip you with effective tools and techniques to manage your distress by changing the way you think and behave. It is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected. By challenging your negative thought pattern, instigates a chain of events in positively changing your emotional reaction and behavioural responses.
CBT is a goal-oriented, short-term therapy which deals with your present problems, opposed to focusing on issues from your past. It is often used to successfully treat anxiety and depression, but has also proved to be clinically effective for a broad spectrum of psychological difficulties. It is an effective, structured way to improve your state of mind by dealing with overwhelming problems more positively. This would involve cognitive restructuring, behavioural activation, exposure therapy and skills training, instigating a sense of relief, empowerment and a renewed sense of personal possibility.

Humanistic Counselling

A review of quantitative and experimental studies concluded that it is the therapeutic relationship that makes substantial and consistent contributions to psychotherapy outcome (Cooper, 2005).

Carl Rogers founded the humanistic person-centred approach, based on the principles and philosophy that if you are exposed to the ‘right’ conditions, will flourish and psychologically grow (Rogers, 1961). These core conditions are ‘empathy’, ‘unconditional positive regard’ and ‘congruence’.

These qualities of care within the therapeutic relationship play a significant role in ensuring you feel safe to explore your unique thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The interconnective process and the counsellor’s depth of awareness of your experiences and emotions facilitate you to work towards personal growth and a renewed self-awareness of your subjective experience. Furthermore, through the process of human connection and by feeling that you are worth being truly listened to and understood initiates you to perceive yourself with greater compassion and understanding, leading to a greater sense of self-acceptance and improved self-esteem. Through exploring your inner experiences and confronting your challenges, you will gain a greater sense of control over your life and a deeper understanding of what you need to do to achieve your goals.

Research highlights the significant benefits of humanistic counselling for supporting you through the process of grief, bereavement and Loss and helping you improve your relationships with others. In addition, it can also help you overcome challenges in your life, such as depression, anxiety, and stress.

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

CFT is a biopsychosocial model and a process-based therapy. It is informed by neuroscience, attachment theory, CBT and the biological evolutionary process. It is governed by understanding the evolved functions of social relationships and the essential physiological regulating abilities of caring connections with the self and others, which is central to the therapeutic process. Research supports that compassion cultivates positive changes in the brain, mental states, body and social behaviour. CFT emphasizes the links between cognitive patterns and the emotion regulation systems (drive, threat and soothing). Through the use of techniques such as compassionate mind training you can learn to manage each system more effectively by attuning and utilising your innate wisdom, strength and caring commitment.

This approach is used to treat problems associated with anxiety, depression, self-criticism, shame and self-hatred, which can be associated with childhood trauma. The goal of CFT is to provide you with some tools to manage the emotional distress, looking at how you can think and behave in a way that is compassionate and caring towards yourself, therefore reducing your own suffering.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention to the present, achieved through observing your thoughts, feelings, sensations and environment internally and externally, without judgement. By observing your thoughts and feelings with gentle curiosity, an awareness will be gained of your emotional patterns that lead you into suffering, distress, disempowerment and overwhelm. With this knowledge, you are then able to proactively manage them effectively with compassion: incorporating your innate wisdom, clarity and courage. Thus, learning to regulate your emotions, stabilising yourself in awareness and accessing an inner sense of peace and freedom.

Paying attention to the present moment can be challenging, we often spend more time thinking about the future, or dwelling on things in the past that we can’t change. This approach to therapy is predominantly experiential, using meditation and breathing exercises to help you. Mindfulness-based treatments have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, as it regulates and grounds our nervous system. This ultimately enables us to ‘respond’ to life’s difficulties, opposed to ‘reacting’, as we are rooted in greater mental clarity.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), but it’s specially adapted for people who feel emotions very intensely, with the aim to help you understand and accept your difficult feelings.

Its main goals are to teach you how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate your emotions, and improve your relationships with others.
The 4 skills taught in DBT are:
  • Mindfulness
  • Distress Tolerance.
  • Interpersonal Effectiveness.
  • Emotional regulation.

Integrative Psychotherapy

Integrating different approaches allows Liz to adapt the therapy to meet your individual needs. Her integrative framework is based on a fusion of humanistic and psychodynamic theory, as supported by research in neuroscience. Furthermore, amalgamating CBT, CFT and DBT. The approach is a commitment to co-creation and collaboration with you regarding your needs, treatment possibilities and agreed outcomes. In addition, dismantling the ‘expert-based’ approach and gaining an important insight into your phenomenological experience and highlighting to you the significance of your unique personal story.

Humanistic philosophy claims that humans are born with an innate ability and desire to develop their potential. Research confirms that a deficit of ‘relationship’ causes dysfunction and that distress and dysfunction can be rooted in childhood events (Winnicott, 1942). This is why Liz utilises psychodynamic ideas such as attachment theory, furthermore, ensuring that a ‘secure base’ is facilitated (Bowlby, 1988), which is why a strong emphasis is placed on the therapeutic relationship promoting your psychological healing.


The aim is to understand your thought processes and current situation, through the lens of how your experiences and relational patterns of thought and behaviour are potentially being influenced by past events. Liz acknowledges the significance of transference and countertransference within the therapeutic process. Psychotherapy is often described as an approach that focuses on the underlying root cause, thus enabling change and personal growth to occur.

Walk and Talk Therapy

Walk and talk therapy is a concept that can be best described as taking traditional counselling sessions outdoors. Research highlights that it has a multitude of benefits:

  • Having therapeutic conversations in a beautiful setting outdoors, either while walking, sitting, or a mixture of both, can add a different and positive dimension to the therapeutic experience.
  • Being outside releases endorphins and is generally mood-enhancing. Research indicates it can support weight loss, lower blood pressure, boost immunity, speeds up digestion, and improves heart health.
  • Working therapeutically outdoors can help with feelings of being “stuck”, as we are moving forwards in the sessions physically, as well as psychologically.
  • Outdoor counselling is good for those who may feel a little anxious or claustrophobic in the environment of a one-on-one session in a room. Furthermore, the potential intensity of eye contact is removed for those who find it an uncomfortable part of therapeutic work.
Liz can take you on a variety of walking trails nestled within the Surrey Hills. The beauty and tranquility of the setting encourages a sense of connection with nature, transformative growth and healing. The spectacular backdrop offers an ideal situation for our sessions: amalgamating a journey of physical and mental exploration.