Maeve McIlwain

Therapist Directory Listing Category: Psychotherapists and Counsellors

About the Therapist

About the therapist:

I believe psychotherapy is most effective when it is a collaborative effort in self-understanding, taking time to build trust in order to explore what might be underlying difficult thoughts, emotions and experiences. My approach is client-led and exploratory and facilitates understanding, reflection and meaningful change.

I trained as a child psychotherapist after being helped by psychotherapy myself as a young person and have first hand experience of its power to uncover patterns of behaviour and improve resilience.

I also conduct research into LGBTQ experiences of therapy and have published papers on queerness, pyschoanalysis and politics. LGBTQ+ people can face huge difficulties finding therapists who understand the particularities of their experience, and this can be especially true for young people- I am able to offer a space that takes up both the complexities and joys of being queer. I always work in an anti-homophobic and anti-transphobic way.

Sexual identity:

Lesbian
Other
Queer

Gender identity: Non-binary

Gender history: Not as assigned at birth

Non-monogamy: Yes

Intersex: No

Trans: Yes

Neurodivergent: Yes

Personal pronouns: They/Them

Qualifications - Links to websites:

https://childpsychotherapy.org.uk/check-acp-register

Membership number: 7532

Qualifications - Additional:

Award	Awarding body	Year of award

Experience and approach:

EXPERIENCE

I have experience helping with a range of difficulties, including:

Children and young people: anxiety, depression, difficulties with body image, stress around school and exams, difficulties with social media, periods of transition, experiences of trauma and the impacts of past experiences, social and familial relationship difficulties, the impacts of neurodivergence, exploration of sexual and gender identities, and experiences of intersectionality.

Parent-infant: post-natal depression and anxiety, feeding and sleeping difficulties and bonding concerns. I also specialise in working with LGBTQ+ families who have taken different routes to conception (IVF, IUI, surrogacy, donors) and who would like help exploring some of the complexities around queer family-making. I can also offer post-adoption support for families with recently placed young adoptive children.

HOW I WORK

I offer an initial phone call to gather up the reason for seeking therapy and to see if my way of working would be good for you, or your child. Following this, there will be an initial meeting with the young person (and the parent, if the child is under 12) - if we decide this is a good fit, we will schedule three more sessions to gain a greater understanding of issues faced and explore hopes and realistic expectations for treatment. Where necessary this will include monthly parent consultations.

I offer sessions of 50 minutes.

I usually see clients 1x weekly but, if indicated, I can offer intensive psychotherapy of 2x or 3x sessions a week. This would be discussed after our initial meeting.

Starting therapy can feel very daunting - I make every effort to help clients' feel comfortable and able to trust and engage in the process.

Approaches: