Rachael Peacock (Dalston)

I have worked with clients exploring their intersectional identities, feelings around relationships/relationship status, coming out as LGBTQIA+ and/or wishing to working in a therapy space where they are not required to explain their identities.

I have worked with familial estrangement relating to sexuality and the social and political impact of holding LGBTQIA+ identities within society. I hold experience of working with the partners of transgender and non-binary people.

I offer person-centred psychotherapy/counselling. This means my therapy approach is built upon the philosophical foundation that as human beings, the unique ways we live and survive are to be respected and trusted. Through experiencing an ongoing, affirming environment it's possible to move towards developing your personal potential and to feel you're living a more enriched life.

If we’ve grown up or currently exist in environments where our need for support, love and acceptance isn’t understood or valued, we may consider such needs to be unacceptable. Through being disconnected from our needs and perhaps not feeling understood by others, we may experience anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, stuckness, shame or estrangement from ourselves and the wider world. Likewise, some of these feelings may be generated if we don’t have the support to process a traumatic life event or series of traumas that may shake the foundations of our existence.

By working with me in a therapy relationship, you're welcome to explore whatever you wish in an environment where the need for acceptance and expressing vulnerability or anxiety, in any form, is prized and received with warmth. Through taking the time to explore what’s troubling you within this environment, you may feel a greater sense of compassion and acceptance towards yourself and a deeper connection towards others.

I carry sensitive awareness of how our ongoing and sometimes complex interactions with society can influence our self-perception and life experiences. Our individual socio-economic situation plus our age, gender, ethnicity, levels of ability/disability, sexual identity, nationality/cultural background can all interact to influence how we navigate our internal world and our relationships with the world around us. Consequently, I’ll respectfully acknowledge the unique context shaping your worldview, being guided by you as to whether it’s something you wish to explore with me during our sessions.

During our sessions, I will be alongside you in whatever you choose to bring and be guided by the pace with which you share your experiences. I’ll endeavour to sensitively and respectfully communicate my moment-to-moment empathic understanding of what might be going on for you which may help you to see yourself in new ways and with greater clarity.

Communicating empathy and warmth towards you and prizing whatever you choose to share in our sessions are the cornerstones of my practice, as is responding to you with authenticity and consideration. Taking the time to explore what’s troubling you within a therapeutic environment may help you to feel more settled within yourself and self-accepting. It may also help to develop a deeper sense of connection with others in your life and the world around you.