Be your own therapist
~ training course
Hey there!
Thanks for taking an interest in this course, which will be available for audio download at the end of 2025.
I’ve brought together all my experience as a therapist - and everyday human - to help you be your very own therapist.
To support you with going from - not just having awareness, but to actual change too.
Rarely does a training course, book, meditation, or psychedelic trip transform ones’ life completely. More often they provide small blocks with which we build a psychologically safe home for ourselves. Or a companion to walk us along the path we intend to follow, a little helping hand towards our goals.
Any successful self-help endeavours will require finding experiences, and guidance, that resonate with you. Something you can connect to and get onboard with. Something you can believe in. Can feel inspired by.
I hope this course provides some of that inspiration.
Through my work as a therapist I’ve noticed some common blockages to change
Something I’ve observed, time and again, is how we can find it hard to remember what we’ve learnt about ourselves. Where to focus our attention when we feel stuck or in pain.
We might yearn for a magic pill or silver bullet to come along. A book, experience, or person that will change everything for us. Or perhaps we end up searching for more problems in the hope of finding new answers, leaving us trying to reinvent the wheel.
We already have the wheels - what we really need is a framework to follow and trust in, with a commitment to practice.
In this course I will provide that framework through eight lessons which form the building blocks of change.
There’ll be a bit of science and theory, to satisfy those of us who like to understand by using their mind.
Then we’ll be experientially learning through our body and senses, creating space for more intuitive feelings.
And we’ll deepen that learning through specific exercises, reflective questions, and a sprinkle of humour.
What’s included in this course?
Eight audio and written lessons with a blend of psychological theory, embodied practices, and humour to help you be your very own therapist
Twelve experiential exercises harnessing the power of visualisation, mindfulness, neuroplasticity, and somatic experiencing
Practice compassionate inquiry to rewrite the story of your life and lay the bedrock for change
Find safety and soothing in your mind and body by regulating your nervous system
Take authority of your cravings and procrastination by learning to surf your urges
Identify your five most important values to create direction, purpose and meaning
Transform, and bring to life, your inner world of negative self-talk using the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach
Boost feel-good neurotransmitters through the cultivating and savouring of positive emotions
Rewire the brain by building sustainable identity-based habits aligned with your values
Who is this course for?
Anyone who wants to discover more about themselves and feel equipped for life’s journey
Those who either cannot afford or are unable to access therapy
Those who might be looking for some additional support to complement their current therapy experience
And it’s for anyone who struggles with anxiety, depression, relationships, communication, focus and attention, OCD, past trauma, emotional regulation, building confidence and self-worth. Because, although individual treatment for these conditions might look different, when you dive beneath the surface you’ll find change is built on the same fundamental building blocks taught in this course
If you’d like to receive a reminder once the course is released, pop your email in the field below and I’ll let you know.
Using intellect, emotions, heart and mind, by the end of this course you will ~
Here’s more on the eight lessons I’ll be teaching
The story of you and me
The Story of you and me is the story of our shared humanity. It's about all the things as humans we have in common.
In this lesson we’ll learn how millions of years have shaped our shared core needs of safety, satisfaction and connection. How we are a living, breathing, culmination of the psychology of our mind, the biology of our body, and the society with which we belong to. And how deep down, we all just want to be loved.
To know this story, is to understand why life can feel such a struggle at times. And by bringing compassion to this inner complexity, we set the groundwork for change.
Your unique story
Nestled within the story of you and me, is your unique tale of how you came to be the person you are today. An awareness of who you are is fundamental in supporting more conscious choices in your life.
In this lesson we’ll start to explore and map out your life. From your younger years, family dynamics, adverse events and achievements, all the way through to the present-day you. Taking a deep interest in how you came to be the person you are.
To deeply understand, with an open heart, how your past has shaped you, nourishes the opportunity for self-compassion. Through compassionate inquiry, we’ll write a story of your life that lays the bedrock for change.
Soothing our way to safety
The search for safety, one of our three core needs, can dictate the direction of our life.
Learning how to regulate our nervous system is essential if we are to also live a life of satisfaction and connection. All of us at some point will have experienced the urge to fight, take flight, freeze, or fawn when feeling emotionally or physically unsafe. Sometimes this is essential, but often our responses to feeling threatened lead us away from a rich and meaningful life.
In this lesson we’ll practice two different ways, using the mind and body, to cultivate a feeling of safety.
Flexing the muscle of intention
If we are not being pulled by our search for safety, we can often be seeking satisfaction and connection. But sometimes those cravings can take us down the unwanted - yet familiar - pathways.
All those little moments of resistance, where we turn away from what we are intending to do, in search of something more comfortable or pleasurable.
In this lesson we’ll practice the skill of being intentional. Two different tools will help you find a moment of agency, encouraging a movement beyond sticky feelings of procrastination and inertia. And a chance to put the reigns on cravings and urges; a step towards your goals, rather than away from them.
Finding flow through our values
Values are process oriented qualities and behaviours.
They give direction, purpose and meaning, by guiding you in who - and how - you want to be in the world.
Having a sense of direction, underpinned by a set of values you are familiar with, can bring a sense of ease, empowerment and stability as you flow through the unpredictability of life.
In this lesson you’ll get the chance to identify your top five values. And discover how being able to act *consistently in alignment - with what feels like a true sense of ourselves - is the key to a meaningful life.
*And how hard that can be!
Befriending our parts
(the usual suspects)
As we drop below the surface stories we tell ourselves, there is a much deeper level of self-awareness available to us.
You might already have a sense of how fragmented your mind can feel at times, as if there are competing parts of your personality, pulling you this way and that. The perpetual punishing, guilty, and perfectionist chatter.
In this lesson I’ll show you how to begin identifying the different parts of your inner experience. Our goal here is to befriend these parts, get to know them. And rather than feeling governed by these parts, we begin to assert our own inner authority to lead.
The power of positive emotions
Thanks to the default negative bias in our brains (yes, we all have it, to one degree or another), we can often get fixated on negative thoughts, feelings and experiences. It’s easy to pass over the good stuff in life, when we our wellbeing actually requires a greater ratio of positive experiences to negative ones. Damn you evolution!
In this lesson we’ll explore how your life may benefit from engaging with qualities such as joy, gratitude, compassion, acceptance and forgiveness. We’ll learn two practices in which we’ll intentionally cultivate positive emotional states.
Happiness is a skill, it has to be practiced.
Building habits
repetition repetition repetition
We have evolved to make the most efficient use of our available energy. To automate our thoughts and motivations, through seeking out patterns and focusing on short-term goals. Our mind does this through developing habits, routines, rituals, biases and beliefs.
For change to stick, we need to unpick and rewire our (sometimes unhelpful) automatic habitual ways of thinking and behaving.
In this lesson we’ll look at the fundamentals of habit building. Understanding how habits are formed through consistent, persistent, small steps, which can lead to big changes. At the end of this course we’ll make a commitment to three new habits you wish to create.
This is a journey
Where we first look back to go forward. Gathering awareness of where we have come from. Our shared human history, and our unique present-day stories told with compassion.
And then inwards, as we seek to become more intimate with our inner world. Through our bodies we bring an attention to stability, soothing, and creating spacious awareness to breathe in the new.
As we search for new perspectives we explore our values and orientate our direction of travel.
Moving with a flexibility, and authority, we invite in the different parts of us along for the ride.
Fuelling-up for the journey on the power of positive emotions.
To follow the path of who we truly are. A path with no particular destination, but rather a journey over the undulating hills of life. With sometimes glorious views and new vistas. Alongside the more mundane moments, with plenty of inclement weather to ensure you keep your focus on the path.
One more thing..
We were nurtured into this world through connection, it is hugely important for our wellbeing. The right presence from another can be healing, literally. Our nervous system responds to the words, a gaze, the touch of another.
Therefore this course is not supposed to be a replacement for therapy. But I hope it provides a framework, for you to create those building blocks of change and feel accompanied on your path.
My goal is to provide you with a map, one you can always return to. A map you can explore in your own independent way.
I particularly want to encourage you to:
Adapt the exercises to best meet your needs. Everyone will have their own unique treatment plan. A particular way of learning, experiencing, a set of tools that resonate best with them.
Explore your own ways of creating more space in your mind for conscious choices.
Hone in on what positive emotions you most need and the new habits to take you forward.
While continuing to deepen the connection with the newly discovered parts of yourself.
The real work starts once the course has ended (sorry!).
Want even more detail on what you’ll learn?
Sure! Here are the learning goals and experiential aspects of each lesson.
The story of you and me
Learning goals:
The shared human experience; what shapes us and the interdependence of our three core needs
How to begin cultivating a more compassionate feeling towards yourself and your experience
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
A brief check-in by rating different aspects of life out-of-ten
Mirror gazing self-compassion exercise
Cultivate the feeling of generosity by 'seeing' others
Your unique story
Learning goals:
Take an interest in your own personal story
How to develop an accepting relationship towards the complexity of your life through compassionate inquiry
Tell a coherent and compassionate story of your life
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
Experiential practice of 'being interested'
Create a timeline of your life
Compassionate letter writing exercise
Soothing our way to safety
Learning goals:
Understand the role of the nervous system, and stress response, in relation to feeling safe
How to experience safety and soothing in the mind and body
Practice skills to help regulate your nervous system
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
Butterfly Tapping technique – bilateral stimulation to stimulate vagal nerve
Safe Place Meditation - visualise and embody a feeling of safety
Flexing the muscle of intention
Learning goals:
Understand the psychology of cravings, urges, and procrastination
How to take intentional action when experiencing feelings of resistance
How to cultivate agency and manage urges and cravings in the mind and body
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
54321 technique to shift out of inertia
Urge surfing technique for being with cravings and impulses
Homework: journal prompts to work with triggers, urges, cravings and impulses
Finding flow through our values
Learning goals:
Understand the meaning of values and their importance
Identify your most important values and how present they are in your life
Exercises, skills and tools:
Answer reflective questions to stimulate values enquiry
Card sorting exercise to identity five most important values
Befriending our parts (the usual suspects)
Learning goals:
Understand what is meant by ‘parts’ using the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach
How to use the IFS approach using the 6Fs tool
How to identify a fully fleshed out part
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
Connect with a part through IFS experiential meditation
Make notes on a fully fleshed out part
Homework: practice noticing when a part has been activated
The power of positive emotions
Learning goals:
Understand the evolution of the brain’s negativity bias
Understand the biology, evolutionary adaptation, and benefit of positive emotions
How to cultivate and savour a positive emotion
Explore further suggestions for cultivating positive emotion
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
HEAL method – visualise, enrich and absorb a positive experience, and harness memory reconsolidation
Building habits: repetition, repetition, repetition
Learning goals:
Understand the psychological and physiological process of change
Understand the science of habits and importance of choosing our identity
How to create identity-based habits
How to support the building and sustaining of identity-based habits
Exercises, tasks, skills and tools:
A process for creating identity-based habits
Three identity-based habits