Can psychotherapy help you feel safe?

Yes! The most common feedback that I receive from clients is that they feel safe in the psychotherapy sessions, and that means they can talk about things they did not imagine they might be able to voice and feel comfortable doing so.

Being a psychotherapist is a massive privilege and responsibility. Co-creating and holding space for a client to explore whatever they need to is the core of the work. Clients do not need me to have the answers, my role is to make it possible for them to find their own answers and truth at a speed and in a way that enables them to heal.

Without safety, therapeutic work can’t really progress. In the early days of a therapeutic relationship rather than working deeply on issues it can be more that the therapist provides containment; a space to hold the excess emotion and intensity that is not bearable.  This grounding together can be healing in itself, and is a necessary step for some before then going inside and doing the deeper work that is needed.

When a client is dysregulated - when they have moved into a fight - flight - freeze response - the only work of psychotherapy is to soothe and calm the nervous system to come back into regulation because regulation is essential for meaningful psychological work. Clients may need support regulating themselves again and again and again, this can be essential and important work. 

Through the co-regulation of psychotherapy, clients can bring their sense of safety inside themselves, and take it with them wherever they go.  Safety does not solely occur in the environment, it’s a felt experience inside.

Co-regulation is where psychotherapists do need to intervene and get busy. We can not know what is good or right for a client in their life decisions, our role is to help them centre and ground such that they can listen deeply and discover this for themselves. That is valuable indeed.

For grounding and healing psychotherapy in the room in Darlington and online for Uk clients, get in touch at fjchrichard@gmail.com or call 01325 605160.