Jo Lucas
Integrative Psychotherapist
I am an integrative psychotherapist with 10 years experience of working in private practice in Cambridge.
I usually work with with people who are experiencing stress and anxiety, loss, depression, low self esteem, self confidence issues, having trouble making decisions and anger issues. I often work with people who are finding things difficult at work or in their family context. Generally people who are feeling out of sorts with themselves or a bit stuck with their lives
I will ask you lots of questions about yourself and your background and what is going on for you right now and together we will try and make some sense of it, to understand what is getting in the way for you, causing the stress or anxiety. I believe that things that have happened in our past and the messages we have taken in, can have a huge impact on us and in particular on how we respond to the relationships and situations we find ourselves in. I will often look for patterns and themes in what we talk about or things that have happened to you. The metaphor I often use is that after our first few conversations we will have in front of us a tangled mess of threads, and our job is to turn this tangled ball into a beautiful tapestry for you to take forward into the rest of your life.
Often we just sit and talk, sometimes I will invite you to experiment with some more creative activities; maybe drawing, using stones, a sandtray, or a three dimensional cube, or images to find other ways to express how things are for you.
Relationship and Couples Therapy
Relationships of any sort can be demanding and difficult. We bring patterns and habits from our childhood, our family history and previous relationships, as well as our beliefs about what relationships should be like. As Erich Fromm* noted, we often think that once we have found the “right person”, all will be well. In reality, relationships need nurturing and looking after as we grow and change, as life happens to us, and as the world we live in changes. We form habits and develop expectations very quickly and often outside of our awareness, as a consequence of this history. Relationships ideally are a place where we can be ourselves, feel safe and trusted. And I know it is possible to make changes to move closer to this possibility.
I often ask each individual to think about what they would like in their relationship and what they might be willing to do to achieve that.
Relationship therapy offers a safe space to to learn how to communicate better an how each of your behaviours and responses impact on the other. It is an opportunity to explore some of those ‘hot’ places between you with someone else to ‘hold the ring’. This means that you can say things you might not usually say, experiment with different responses and learn about the impact you have on people.
All that is required is a willingness to listen to the other, to be thoughtful and curious about what is happening between you, to try different things, and to be open about yourself in the relationship.
Relationship therapy is open to people in all sorts of relationships; romantic, marital, siblings, friendships and business.
*E Fromm, The Art of Loving
Practical Details
Sessions are usually for 90 minutes fortnightly in the centre of Cambridge.
I will sometimes suggest that I have an individual session with each of you following our first meeting, to enable me to get a picture of your individual history of relationships.
You can find more about me on my website:
www.psychotherapist-cambridge.com
Contact me at hello@psychotherapist-cambridge.com
Fees
My fees for individual therapy are based on a sliding scale:
For people with an income of £100k plus - £100
For people with an income of £75 to £100k - £90
For people with an income of £50k to £75k - £75
For people with an income of £30k to £50k - £65
For people with an income of £20k to £30k - £55
For people with an income of less than £20 - £45
My fees for relationship and couples therapy are based on a sliding scale:
For people with a family income of £100k plus - £200
For people with a family income of £75 to £100k - £150
For people with a family income of £50 to £75 - £120
Fees are payable by card at each session