About me
Rachel graduated from the Dublin Counselling and Therapy Centre with a postgraduate diploma in humanistic and integrative psychotherapy and counselling, and is fully accredited with the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP). She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from UCD. She is currently training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to incorporate into her integrative approach, and is a pre-accredited member of EMDR All-Ireland. She is committed to ongoing training and keeping up with continuous professional development.
Rachel believes every person has an innate potential for growth and healing. This process is often interrupted however, by difficult or stressful life experiences and the imprint they leave on ourselves and our relationships. Rachel offers a safe, affirming space to help clients understand themselves better and identify issues impacting their well-being.
Rachel also sees each person as responsible for taking charge of their lives and capable of being active participants in their healing. She believes working collaboratively to help clients explore their life in the context of their present, and the impact of their past, empowers them to make informed decisions about their lives. Rachel's person-centered training has taught her that a caring, compassionate and genuine relationship with clients is instrumental in supporting their meaningful change.
Rachel recognises that every person is unique and that a therapeutic framework should cater to the client’s individual struggles, needs and goals. She integrates many different modalities such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), gestalt therapy, psychodynamic therapy, compassion-focused therapy, parts work and inner child work. She also sees it essential to provide clients with psychoeducation and equip them with useful coping strategies for distress.
At the heart of Rachel’s therapeutic approach is a desire to facilitate clients to nurture a loving and compassionate relationship with themselves.
Rachel has extensive experience in both in-depth long-term psychotherapeutic work and shorter term solution-focused counselling. She has worked with clients from all different backgrounds and cultures with issues such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, OCD, loss and bereavement, suicide, attachment, stress and burnout, childhood trauma, relationship issues and self-esteem. She has also supported many clients exploring identity, sexuality, gender, culture, and neurodiversity.
Rachel is particularly interested in attachment styles, and in helping clients explore how their earlier relationships have impacted their needs, fears, assumptions and expectations in later ones. Alongside this, she likes to incorporate inner child work to aid clients in meeting and tending to their younger selves, and work towards healing childhood wounds.
