Working together
APPROACH, EXPERIENCE
AND EXPECTATIONS
Selecting someone to seek help from is an important, personal choice and they’ve got to be a ‘fit’ for you. It’s only natural that you will want someone who you feel comfortable and safe with, who shows you the understanding, patience and respect that you need and deserve. Someone with the right experience and qualifications. And of course, someone who is free from judgement, shares in wanting to see you be the very best version of yourself and living your best life… and who is as invested in your results as you are. There’s someone out there for everyone, and it’s only right you want to know what to expect and if we could be a ‘match’.
Is this you?
You might be brand new to all this (yay!), if so, skip to the ‘is this approach right’ bit to see if we’re good together.
Perhaps this isn’t your first time seeking help, or you’ve found that other therapies haven’t gone far enough, or deep enough. Maybe CBT, counselling, or months to years of talking it through and it although it helped, and you understand yourself better, you are still left with some things that haven’t changed and you don’t know how to get yourself there. You can possibly talk about it. But some of the feelings, the way your body responses, or those habitual behaviours that you know you do but really don’t like, they still show up. And if that’s where you are, that’s exactly what brings people like you to me. And its the first place I start. What’s missing, what hasn’t been covered yet, or what hasn’t ‘landed’ in a way that it shifts things for good.
Is this approach right for me?
My approach and style isn’t for everyone and that’s okay.
But if you’re the kind of person who’s ready to properly ‘go for it’ rather than keep circling the same ground, even if you’re a little hesitant or don’t know how (that’s ok, that’s my job!)
Or perhaps know you’d benefit from someone who’ll be straight with you as well as compassionate, and who’ll gently and safely move you beyond where you’re at, whilst acknowledging what got you there.
If you’re the kind of person who gets curious about what’s happening under the surface…but just to ‘understand’ but to actively change what’s not working, not just ‘cope’…
If you’re willing to engage, reflect, apply, and maybe even have a little laugh along the way…
Then I’m confident we’d connect well and get you thriving in all areas of your life. Read on to find out why.
My first session was just like being with a friend and chatting for a few hours. There’s nothing weird or scary and it just felt really natural… I am the happiest I have been for a very long time.
Matt
MY APPROACH: FOWARD-FOCUSED, not past-fixated
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen Covey
The Why, Where From, What Now and How?
Most people I work with don’t want to spend months digging through the past or re-living things they’ve already been through more than enough. They want to change how things feel now, and get on with where they’re going.
This is quite different from counselling, psychotherapy or more analytical approaches, where a lot of the work centres on the past and how you got here – the ‘why’ and ‘where from’. With me, we’re far more solution-focused and start where you are now and work towards where you want to get to, because I have found that people tend to already know why and where it stems from, but just don’t know what to differently or how to change it.
Now there are occasions where we still might need to piece things together a bit, and look for and change old associations – just because that’s how the brain works, such as with phobias, anxiety and some things we need to re-learn and alter. The same with trauma responses, where we need to help re-wire those specific responses and the way the brain perceives them, to clear the way to start building something better for you, both if your brain wiring and reality! So if something from the past is relevant and needs attending to, we go there, but in a safe, targeted way, using exceptionally gentle and effective techniques such as Havening or NLP, with no re-living, just re-wiring.
And, for a lot of the work we do together, it barely comes into it at all, because we don’t need to talk around the past to change how we are in the future. We focus on ‘what now’ – what we want to help you do differently, and ‘how’ to be that going forward.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The ‘in-session’ experience
It is my belief that everyone has the birthright and ability to lead a free, happy, fulfilled and successful life. It is my purpose and privilege to guide you towards understandings that make the unimaginable an achievable vision, and the vision a natural reality.
Tam Johnston
I genuinely care about you and your needs and am passionate about you getting the results you want. My style is always in line with this outcome for you and I will go wherever I need to with you in order to help you get this. I’m in it with you all the way. At the same time (and of course, only if appropriate) I want to make it as comfortable, fun and enjoyable as you want it to be! I think of the partnership as a friendship of mutual trust and respect, so you can certainly expect compassion, empathy, humour, honesty, and occasionally tough love and purposeful provocation when helpful!
I accelerate your changes through considered, purposeful questioning, and conversational change techniques alongside tools and therapies carefully tailored to work with the root of your issue and it’s internal ‘coding’. Unlike approaches that work purely at a conscious, cognitive level, most of the real change happens beneath the surface. Not just the thinking and behaviour, but the emotions that we tend to push down or that overwhelm us. How our nervous system and bodies respond and what they store up over time somatically. The outdated beliefs and values that run things behind the scenes. And who we perceive ourselves to be. In short, the mind, body, emotions, nervous system working together. We work with all of it, so the changes are aligned and complete.
Sessions can also be content-free: you don’t have to lead with what you’re working on, and you won’t be pushed to share more than feels right for you.
A lot of the time our sessions will seem simply conversational. I’m working with you both consciously and, more importantly, unconsciously to create the change. Many clients tell me it feels like having a chat. But things just shift.
My approach understands the importance of psycho-education, I’ll have your back with resources and information outside our sessions, as well as agreed actions to apply what we have covered. I have found the more you understand about ‘how’ you are doing what you are doing and ‘what’ to do differently, with help to really embed it in so it becomes habitual, the more you can take charge of it on your own now, and in the future. We will purposefully and positively create new thought processes and changes together, in line with what you want for yourself and you be provided with videos, audios, worksheets and information to help to DIY!
If you’re curious as to what others have experienced, read more from people I’ve worked with.
My sessions with Tam always left me feeling inspired and confident that I could achieve whatever I wanted in my life.
Erin, International Entertainer
I’VE GOT YOU COVERED
From start to finish… and everything in between
How does it all work?
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King Jr
Getting started
After a chat or brief assessment through email, we’ll have a better idea of what would work best for you. It’s common for us to see each other for two hours, but this does depend upon your needs and what we are working on. We’ll figure this out together before the session.
We also send you a specific issue-related welcome pack which includes a questionnaire and optional assessments, alongside some free goodies. They’re purposefully designed to start pulling out the patterns, to get you thinking about things differently, and lay down the foundations for the work we do together. It also means that when we get together, we spend our time (and your investment!) getting on with the good stuff, rather than information gathering. For some, they’d rather wait to share in the session, which is absolutely fine too. It’s all on your terms and where you are at.
Between Sessions
Once we’re working together you’ll have your own portal with resources specific to what you’re working on. That might be psycho-education, audios, worksheets or videos, whatever’s most useful. We keep track of how you are progressing in there, with reminders and sign-posting from me and a place for you to ask questions and leave notes. What happens between sessions matters as much as the session itself, and it’s intended to save our valuable ‘in-session’ time and give you back up and support in between.
Where can we see each other?
The initial session will either be online or in person, at my Marylebone, London or Brighton practice, depending upon what suits you best. And then from there, we have a better idea what/if further sessions are required and can come up with a plan together. Sessions are often moved online after the first in-person session, but we’ll always work with what you prefer.
You can find all about my venues and clinics HERE.
How many sessions will I need?
Unlike more traditional talking therapies and approaches, it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing each other weekly. Because I work differently, we’ll be targeting the core issue safely but rapidly, in as few sessions as possible. Any follow ups tend to be when you’ve had sufficient time to process and work on anything I give to you between sessions. Commonly, it is anything between two weeks and a month, but it really does depend on our outcomes and how much time you might benefit from. For specific, targeted issues or for people who benefit from extra support, they may be closer together. I will be able to guide you towards the end of the session, but like everything ,we’ll figure it out together. Most people see meaningful change within one to three sessions.
I also run intensive breakthrough sessions when suitable for particular needs. These tend to be longer sessions, often in-person and then again, any ‘tweaks’ are arranged for a brief follow up session if needed.
It’s designed to be intensive where it needs to be and purposefully efficient.
What are the next steps?
If helpful, we can have a friendly, informal phone chat together about what you may like help with and how we may approach it. This will help give us time to decide whether we are right for each other and you can ask any questions you have. We can talk through your options and the best way forward.
If you would like to find out more or book a session, give me call or drop me a line below.
“It’s more than any therapy has provided.” P, London