I help people understand themselves more deeply, recognise where difficult patterns may have come from, and build healthier relationships with themselves and others.
You might come to therapy because you feel stuck. Perhaps anxiety and overthinking are taking up too much space, you’re struggling in your relationships, or you find yourself repeating patterns even though you know they aren’t helping you.
You may be very hard on yourself, constantly questioning whether you’re doing enough or comparing yourself with other people who seem to be managing life better. Sometimes there is a fear of rejection or abandonment underneath this, or a feeling that you have spent much of your life putting other people first.
You might also have tried therapy before. Perhaps it helped for a while, but familiar feelings have returned, or you never quite got to the heart of why you feel the way you do.
Natalie offers a warm and collaborative space to explore what is happening now while also understanding how earlier experiences may be influencing the way you feel, cope, and relate to others today.
Natalie works with adults experiencing a range of emotional and relationship difficulties, with particular interests in:
A central part of Natalie’s work is helping clients understand that many of the patterns they struggle with did not appear from nowhere. Behaviours such as people-pleasing, withdrawing, becoming anxious in relationships or struggling to trust may once have developed as understandable ways of coping.
Understanding where these patterns come from can make it possible to respond to yourself with greater compassion and begin making different choices.
Natalie has a particular interest in attachment and the way our earliest relationships can influence how we experience ourselves and other people later in life.
You may find yourself wondering:
Why am I so frightened of being rejected?
Why do I always put other people first?
Why do I keep ending up in unhealthy relationships?
Why do I find it so difficult to trust people?
Why am I so hard on myself?
Therapy can provide an opportunity to explore these questions without assuming there is something fundamentally wrong with you.
Natalie helps clients understand the experiences that may sit beneath their current difficulties and gradually develop a different relationship with themselves and others.
Natalie also works with couples who may feel stuck in patterns of conflict, disconnection or misunderstanding.
Couples often come to her feeling as though they have reached the end of their tether or worried that their relationship may be breaking down.
Her relationship work includes an understanding of attachment and how the emotional “blueprints” we develop through earlier relationships can influence how we respond to closeness, conflict, rejection and vulnerability with our partners.
Therapy creates space to slow these patterns down, understand what is happening between you and explore different ways of relating.
Natalie works integratively, which means she does not expect one therapeutic approach to suit everybody.
She brings warmth, empathy, and genuine human connection to her work and describes herself as very much not a “blank slate” therapist.
She knows that starting therapy can feel daunting, particularly if you have had difficult experiences before or worry that you will not know what to say. You do not need to arrive with the right words or a clear idea of where to begin.
Natalie will work at a pace that feels manageable and will regularly check in about how therapy is feeling and whether you are getting what you need from the sessions.
Clients have said they appreciate that Natalie feels human and real. Alongside listening and providing emotional support, she may gently challenge you or introduce psychological ideas in everyday language to help you understand why particular feelings and patterns keep appearing.
There can be room for sadness and difficult emotions, but also for humour and ordinary human connection.
Before becoming a therapist, Natalie worked as a probation officer. This gave her considerable experience of working with people experiencing complex and difficult circumstances and developed her understanding of trauma, risk, shame, behaviour and change.
She later completed an MA in Counselling & Psychotherapy and is a registered member of the BACP.
Natalie has undertaken additional specialist training in trauma therapy and relationship and couples therapy. She is also StopSo trained and registered and has experience and training relating to harmful sexual behaviours and sexual offending.
She has personal insight into neurodiversity, chronic illness and the impact of trauma, which further informs her understanding of how exhausting it can feel to navigate a world that does not always accommodate difference.
The first session is an opportunity for Natalie to get to know you and understand what has brought you to therapy. You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what you want to talk about. You can take things at your own pace and begin wherever feels most manageable.
Having tried therapy previously does not mean therapy cannot help you. Sometimes the therapeutic relationship was not the right fit, the timing wasn’t right, or you may now be ready to explore things differently. Natalie will talk with you about what did and didn’t work previously so that this can inform your work together.
There isn’t one answer that suits everyone. Some people come with something specific they want to explore over a shorter period, while others find longer-term therapy more helpful. Natalie regularly reviews the work with clients so you can consider together whether therapy is helping and what you need going forward.
The first sessions provide an opportunity to understand what has been happening within your relationship and what you would both like to change. Natalie can explain how she works with couples and whether individual sessions may also be useful as part of the assessment process.
Natalie works with adults and couples at Cherry Tree Therapy Centre in Buckhurst Hill and also offers online counselling.
Availability: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
Sessions: 50 minutes
Individual counselling: £70–£80
Couples counselling: £80–£90
Fees vary depending on session format and time of day.