Psychotherapy for Stress and Anxiety
If you're experiencing stress or anxiety, ignoring the symptoms rarely makes them go away — more often, they intensify over time.
Persistent tension, headaches, poor sleep, difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, frequent bouts of chronic illness, increased conflict or reliance on alcohol or other substances can all be signs that stress is taking its toll. When anxiety is left unaddressed, panic attacks can follow.
Working together — face to face in the City of London or online — I'll firstly help you calm your nervous system and regain your groundedness and control. Then we'll explore and address the underlying causes so that change becomes lasting and sustainable.
Healing from Trauma and PTSD
Trauma isn't solely the result of extreme events. It can arise when experiences — sometimes gradual, sometimes sudden — are overwhelming and too much to process at the time.
This might include bullying, abusive and controlling relationships, domestic, family or professional conflict, accidents, medical procedures, neglect, assault, burglary, or painful childhood experiences. Trauma affects each person differently, and its impact is not always immediately obvious.
You might notice:
- Feelings of guilt or shame
- Numbness or a sense of disconnection
- Confusion or hopelessness
- Heightened fear or anger
- Unexplained physical pain
- Disturbing memories, dreams or flashbacks
- Withdrawing from others
If you're carrying the effects of trauma, you don't have to manage it alone. In a warm and steady way, we will work together to gently process what has happened, calm your nervous system, helping you to feel safer, grounded and more at ease again.
Learning to Set and Keep Boundaries
If setting and maintaining boundaries feels unfamiliar, it can be difficult to assert yourself in work or personal relationships. You might struggle to say no, feel taken for granted, overextend yourself, or find that your kindness can be stretched too far.
For many people, boundaries were never modelled clearly when growing up. You may have experienced others asserting themselves aggressively, been shy, learned to keep the peace, or simply never been encouraged to express your needs confidently.
Clear, healthy boundaries help you feel safer and more secure in yourself. They communicate, calmly and confidently, what is acceptable to you and what is not. As you become more comfortable setting them, self-respect and respect from others grows naturally.
Through psychotherapy, we will work together to strengthen your boundaries in ways that feel authentic, steady and sustainable.
Recovering from Bullying and Undermining at Work
Being undermined, harassed or bullied at work can deeply affect your confidence and self-belief. Over time, it may lead to anxiety, low mood, sleep problems or other stress-related health issues. You might feel confused, ashamed or isolated — unsure whether you're overreacting or whether to formally report what's happening.
Sometimes the full impact only becomes clear once the situation has ended, yet the experience still needs to be processed so it doesn't continue to shape your confidence or future working relationships.
In psychotherapy, we will work through what has happened at your pace. I'll support you to rebuild confidence and resilience, regain perspective, and think clearly about how best to manage the situation — whether that means addressing it directly, setting firmer boundaries, or planning next steps.
In high-performing environments, some leadership styles can tip into arrogance, control or intimidation. Being on the receiving end of such behaviour is not a personal failing — it is corrosive and deserves to be taken seriously. Together, we can make sense of the experience, strengthen your position, and ensure you feel more confident moving forward.
When Pressure Tips into Overwhelm
In high-pressure environments, a certain level of stress can sharpen focus and performance. But when pressure becomes constant — long hours, relentless deadlines, demanding travel — it can tip into overwhelm and, if left unchecked, eventually, burnout.
Overwhelm often begins subtly: feeling drained, mentally exhausted, less resilient or more reactive than usual. The risk increases when these early signs are ignored and pushing through becomes the norm.
In our work together, we will first focus on your health, helping to calm an overloaded nervous system and restore balance. From there, we will explore your workload, patterns of thinking, boundaries and any personal factors contributing to the strain, so that change is sustainable rather than temporary.
Some signs of overwhelm:
- Constantly rushing or feeling under pressure
- Irritability, anger, low mood or tearfulness
- Sleep problems, tired but wired
- IBS, GERD and other digestive issues
- Tightness in the chest or throat
- Headaches, palpitations or dizziness
- Anxiety or panic attacks
- Increased reliance on alcohol and substances
- Strained relationships
Overwhelm can become normalised but ignoring the signs only deepens the impact.
Burnout Recovery and Prevention
If you've been diagnosed with burnout — or suspect you may be approaching it — you may feel unable to function as you once did, both professionally and personally. Burnout affects everything, your body, your mind, your ability to cope and often leads to significant physical and emotional symptoms. You will need to pause work, take time, adopt a multi-disciplinary approach and a willingness and commitment to make your recovery your sole goal.
When you're ready, we can meet face to face in the City of London or work online. Together, we'll explore how overwhelm or burnout developed, what needs to change, and how you can move forward in a way that protects your health and long-term wellbeing.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
The persistent feeling that you're somehow a fraud — that despite your achievements, you don't truly belong and could be "found out" at any moment. It's the internal voice that dismisses your success as simply luck, questions your ability and tells you that others would see through you if they really knew you.
A degree of self-doubt is natural and can even motivate growth. But when self-criticism becomes constant, it erodes belief in yourself, limits professional and personal progress, and makes it difficult to feel genuine satisfaction in your achievements.
In psychotherapy, we'll explore the messages you carry about yourself — where they began, how they've been reinforced, and whether past experiences of criticism or undermining have shaped them. Together, we'll work towards a more realistic and self-supportive sense of who you are, so that success feels earned rather than accidental.
Rebuilding Your Confidence and Self-belief
However confident you may appear on the surface, you'll know if your self-belief feels shaky. Confidence naturally rises and falls, but when belief in yourself is consistently low, it brings self-doubt, comparison and harsh self-criticism.
In our work together, we'll explore the roots of that doubt, the patterns that keep it in place and whether they deserve to shape how you view yourself today.
Many of us carry long-standing messages about who we are — beliefs about our strengths, weaknesses and worth that were shaped by early experiences or past relationships. When those messages are critical or limiting, they can quietly influence how you perform at work, relate to others and, most importantly, how you see yourself.
In therapy, we examine those messages and beliefs in a thoughtful, supportive way. You have the opportunity to question their relevance, decide whether they still serve you, and shape a view of yourself that feels more accurate, balanced and self-supportive.
Support Through Personal and Professional Crisis
Maintaining professionalism at work while coping with a personal crisis can be incredibly demanding.
Divorce, bereavement, serious illness, bad news or an accident can affect your concentration, energy and sense of stability. When you're in shock, even basic routines can feel difficult. Poor sleep and heightened emotion may leave you distracted, anxious or unexpectedly tearful at work.
At times like this, confidential support can make a real difference. Together, we'll focus on helping you stay grounded day to day while making sense of what you're experiencing and considering your next steps carefully.
It isn't always possible — or appropriate — to share everything with friends or colleagues and there may be anticipation that you'll 'bounce back' before you're ready. Therapy provides space without pressure or expectation.
It could be for you that the crisis is in the past however, the emotional impact continues to linger. If you're functioning on the surface but still reverberating with what happened and feeling unsettled, we will take time to process what you experienced so you can move forward with greater clarity, calm and steadiness.
"In my first role as Chief Executive, having the protected space and time to talk through the problems and issues, and the effect on me as a person, has been invaluable. Amanda has the skills, insight and experience to support the person and the organisation so that each can benefit."
Therapy for High Net Worth Individuals
Wealth can bring unique and often unspoken challenges. What can look to others like privilege can feel burdensome. There may be questions about other people's motives or strain in friendships where financial inequality shifts the dynamic. As one client put it, "Am I just a walking £ sign now?"
You may feel conflicted about your wealth — grateful, yet uneasy. There can be pressure to meet family expectations, follow a particular career path, or maintain a lifestyle that doesn't truly reflect who you are. Some clients describe feeling trapped by circumstance, or quietly questioning meaning and purpose despite outward success.
Newly acquired wealth can also prompt reflection. You may be thinking about your identity, how to stay connected to your core values, or how to raise children who appreciate privilege without being defined by it.
From the outside, it may appear that you have everything. Yet financial security does not automatically bring contentment, confidence or a clear sense of identity. Inheritors in particular can struggle with questions of autonomy, purpose and self-worth. It can feel isolating to have mixed or complicated feelings about wealth.
As a high net worth individual, you likely have trusted advisers — lawyers, wealth managers, accountants or a family office — focused on the external aspects of your life. Therapy offers something different: space to reflect on the internal experience.
In our work together, you have a confidential setting to explore business and family pressures, personal relationships, and your relationship with yourself. Having a steady, trusted confidante with whom to think these matters through, can make a profound difference — helping you live with greater clarity, authenticity and ease.
Navigating Life Beyond Your Career
You may have planned financially for retirement. But what about your identity, your rhythm, your freedom?
Considering leaving your career can feel unfamiliar — sometimes liberating, sometimes unsettling.
This is the space where I work: helping senior professionals navigate life beyond titles and roles, and design a future that excites them.
Please visit my website: retirement-designer.co.uk
Ready to explore how therapy could help? View pricing and payment options or get in touch directly.