Private Psychotherapy
Edinburgh, Scotland
Private Therapy Services
Individuals
In therapy, you receive guidance, coping strategies, and new perspectives so that your distress is reduced and you feel more at ease in your life.
Couples
Couples therapy gives you a structured space with a specially trained therapist who helps you strengthen your relationship.
Clinical Supervision
In supervision, you are supported as a reflexive practitioner with a supervisor who is curious about what arises for you in your work and how you can support yourself and your clients.
About Mia
I work with a wide range of mental health concerns. I’m non-judgemental, honest, and supportive while being able to challenge you in ways that promote your capacity to improve your well-being.
Clients I frequently help struggle with anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, bereavement, suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem, a background of childhood trauma and/or neglect, conflict with family/friends/partners, difficulty with maintaining boundaries, nightmares, and panic attacks.
My education is in counselling and psychotherapy from the University of Edinburgh. There, I gained my postgraduate diploma and PhD. I hold a level 5 certificate in couples and relationship counselling accredited by the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists. I’m a specially trained therapist with StopSO UK. And you can also find me listed with Harley Therapy.
I primarily work with psychodynamic theories, thinking about unconscious patterns, early attachments, and how these appear in our present lives. I work with what arises in the here-and-now: what’s happening in our bodies, what’s happening between us in the session, what is felt, what is not felt, what is spoken and what is unspoken. Working in this way gives us access to inner resources that support self-awareness, understanding, and a greater sense of control and confidence as well as courage to face the past, manage the present, and look forward to the future.
FAQs
Therapy is an investment in yourself. Below are asks and answers to help you make an informed decision.
Sessions are 1 hour (1.5 hours for couples). How long you’re in therapy depends quite a lot on you. I’ll be in no rush to get you out and I won’t be interested in keeping you forever. So how long therapy takes depends on how long it takes for you to feel better and to feel ready to end therapy. And honestly, in the end, readiness to leave is often itself therapeutic to talk about.
No. You’ll be the one telling me about you so I understand what’s happened, how you feel, how you cope, and so on. But the way I practice is a dialogue between us. So I’ll respond to you. I may kindly disagree with you, agree with you, offer a different perspective, suggest a reframing, or share what’s come up for me if I think that’s helpful to you.
With couples, I facilitate dialogue between the two of you. I provide guidance, insight, psychoeducation, and support you in achieving your goals as a couple. I may be a neutral party, but I am not a silent observer.
Yes and no. I don’t tell people how they should live their lives. I do offer professional insight into stuck narratives, painful behaviours, traumatic experiences. This sometimes involves practicing a technique to relieve acute distress or to practice going deeper into a feeling. But I do not give life advice.
While I don’t give life advice with couples, this way of working is a bit different, so I may give homework and direction that supports the couple’s goals. I may also be more directive in sessions to guide and facilitate what arises.
That will be totally okay. When we first meet, we’ll decide at the end of the hour if it feels right to begin by agreeing to six sessions to start with and we’ll see how that goes. If we realise we don’t work so well together, we’ll talk about that. And I’ll be happy to recommend colleagues I think would be a good fit for you.
Intensity can be an important part of therapy to manage. Some of us need to return to work or take care of family or just not feel absolutely drained after a session. If this is a concern, you can tell me. It’s part of my job to manage the therapy hour; in this case, we’d agree to shift the intensity to provide recovery time before you leave the session. I would also be able to provide you with tools to manage overwhelm that may arise between sessions.
My fee is £60 for individuals. £90 for couples. I prefer to book week by week and for payment to be made the same way. In other words, I don’t accept block payments or bookings because this can get confusing when anyone cancels a session.
Yes and no. This depends on your needs. If it’s appropriate to meet with one person individually, I’ll meet with the other as well. In other words, I will not meet with one more often than the other. If I meet with you individually, the focus remains on the relationship work and I’m unable to hold ‘secrets’ so the confidentiality is different to how I work with individuals.