Internal Family Systems and Gestalt therapy

Hi, I'm Sophie. I'm an integrative therapist specialising in Internal Family Systems and gestalt therapy, working with clients online and in Oxford.

Welcome

Do you feel like there’s a tug of war happening inside your head?
Are you feeling stuck in painful memories or repetitive behaviours?
Do you want to increase your sense of aliveness and connection to yourself?
Together we can meet parts of you that are struggling,
create space for them to be heard and heal,
and help you move forward with greater well-being and self-knowledge.
Images used with permission of Cécile Carre
reach out

About me

Hi, I’m Sophie.
I want to support you to build a compassionate relationship with parts of yourself that you may have been struggling with – parts that might get triggered and cause behaviours or feelings that make your life difficult, parts that you feel uncomfortable with or worry are shameful, or perhaps parts of you that criticise you.
I'm an individual member of BACP with a diploma in gestalt counselling. I’m trained to Level 1 in Internal Family Systems and have training in NVC and Inner Relationship Focusing. I charge £50 for a 50 minute session and £25 for a 50 minute initial session.
I’m queer and use they/them pronouns.

Interested in working together?

Let me know a little about what you're looking for, request a £25 initial session, or ask me any questions you have.
I'll almost always respond by email within 24 hours. If you don't hear back, my response is likely in your spam folder. Please leave a number if you want me to let you know by text once I've emailed you.

FAQs

If you’re interested in working together, you can start by booking a 50 minute session for a reduced fee of £25, in which we can explore working together. You can contact me via the form above or by emailing me at kwintertherapy@outlook.

I have an in-person practice just outside Oxford, and also offer online sessions for clients internationally.

I use the Psychology Today platform for holding online sessions, which is GDPR and HIPAA compliant.

I charge £50 for a 50 minute session. I also offer 90 minute sessions for £80. Initial sessions are £25.

I ask for 72 hours notice if you want to cancel a session completely rather than reschedule.

Regardless of the notice you give me I’ll do my best to offer you alternative slots so you still get the session you paid for, or we can extend our next session to 90 minutes.

I like to be flexible when it comes to changing session times, and I’m happy to work with clients with unpredictable or varied schedules.

I generally see clients weekly for 50 minute sessions, although if you prefer we may be able to meet:

  • once a fortnight.
  • twice a week for a limited period.
  • for 90 minutes rather than 50 minutes.

Feel free to ask me if one of these options would suit you.

Some circumstances where I think fortnightly sessions can work particularly well:

  • we’ve already worked together for at least half a year.
  • you’d like to use our time in a fairly specific way, for example working on a particular issue, or primarily doing parts work.
  • you’re in a pretty good place within yourself, and are attending therapy to maintain this.
  • you need more emotional processing time between sessions.
     

I think more time (e.g. twice weekly sessions or 90 minutes sessions) can be useful to maintain momentum if we’re making a lot of progress, or for additional support if you’re going through a particularly difficult time.

You might also find 90 minutes allows you to get deeper into an issue and offers the time you need for things to really shift.

I’m happy for us to experiment to figure out what works best for you.

Training I have completed:

  • Diploma in gestalt counselling from the Albany Centre
  • Level 1 in Internal Family Systems
  • Multiple trainings in NVC (non-violent communication)
  • Intermediate/Advanced training in Inner Relationship Focusing
 

My core training has covered a range of modalities. I trained for three and a half years on psychodynamic, humanistic and integrative trainings before completing my training on a gestalt course.

Before and during my training I attended about 7 years of my own therapy, including integrative, existential, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, gestalt and person-centred therapy.

I’m a registered member of BACP, membership number 406253.

I’m in supervision with an experienced therapist, and also attend a peer supervision group. 

I read widely, and attend additional trainings and talks. You can see some of the things I’m currently reading and listening to below.

I think of therapy as a space for you to feel heard, make sense of your past experiences and current dilemmas, and build self-compassion, self-knowledge, and skills which will help you live in greater alignment with your needs and desires.

Therapy sessions are your space to share and explore whatever topics are meaningful for you. We might spend time exploring and working through the impact of traumas you’ve experienced; ethical dilemmas you’re facing; your experiences around food, work, exercise, health, sex or money; what it means to you to feel successful, safe, loved or seen; your experience of particular emotions; your interactions with the most important people in your life; and worries, questions or hopes you may have about your future. And of course we can talk anytime about how our sessions are going and how our work together can be as supportive as possible for you.

I’m excited about integrating many different approaches into the way I practice. Some of the approaches I’m particularly knowledgeable about are Internal Family Systems, Inner Relationship Focusing, Gestalt therapy, compassion-focused therapy and non-violent communication.

What can therapy with me offer you?

If you're interested in working together, I'd like to share some of how I work and how I think about therapy.

Particularly if you're fairly new to therapy, my hope is that having some shared language and context will empower you to discuss with me what works, what doesn't, and whether I'm a good fit for you.
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Resources

Below are a handful of the resources I sometimes share with clients. 

See all resources

Ideas for physical activities to regulate your nervous system.

A primer on attachment styles, for understanding how your nervous system works in intimate relationships.

A video introduction to Internal Family Systems, one of the main modalities I use.

An introduction to Focusing, a way of accessing your embodied experience of the whole of a situation.

An introduction to the Enneagram, a personality test that can offer surprisingly deep and rapid insight into what drives you.

Podcast episodes on different themes (e.g. adoption, grief, sexuality, chronic pain) through an IFS lens.

Currently reading...

As well as attending individual and group supervision, a lot of my ongoing professional development involves reading and listening to others’ work. Here are a few of the books I’m currently reading/podcasts I’m listening to. These are mostly aimed at practitioners rather than clients (but you might still find them useful!). 

  • Trauma and Dissociation Informed Internal Family Systems by Joanne Twombly
  • Clean Language by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees
  • Hold Me Tight, by Sue Johnson. 
  • Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, Janina Fisher