Barnsbury Therapy Rooms, 144 Liverpool Rd, London N1 1LA
EMBODIED PSYCHOTHERAPY
with Jumanah Younis
An Existential-Gestalt approach
People access therapy for many different reasons, but usually because something is no longer working or does not feel right. You may be experiencing feelings of anxiety or depression, a sense of ‘stuckness’, dissociation or low self-esteem. Perhaps the same problems in relationships or in family dynamics keep recurring or you feel unsatisfied with your work or creative practice.
In therapy, we can explore the challenges you are facing together through a collaborative conversation. I offer a warm, inquisitive approach, which may prompt you to examine pre-existing narratives and could allow for new paths and possibilities to emerge.
About me
I have an academic background in literature and languages, and I began to train as a therapist after five years working in domestic and sexual violence support services. Seeing service users struggle to make long-term change with only practical support, I became curious about the role of the psychological in the path to recovery from trauma.
Humanistic therapy puts the emphasis on an individual’s innate capacity to move towards what is nourishing for them. It also considers how our particular subjective position and early relationships affect our way of responding to trauma. I found this resonated with my experiences and values, so I started therapy training in Humanistic Approaches to Psychotherapy, first at the Metanoia Institute and later at Brighton University.
As a qualified humanistic counsellor, I draw on existential and Gestalt approaches in my practice. These approaches emphasise our relatedness to others in and through our bodies and increasing our awareness of choice, which to me feels significant given the impact of trauma on the body-mind and on relationships. Together, they form a holistic framework that underpins my practice as a therapist.
During my training I also worked as a counsellor at the LGBTQ+ mental health charity MindOut for over two years, where I supported clients with diverse gender, sexual, and relationship experiences, particuarly queer people of colour. I’m interested in non-normative relationship styles such as poly and in exploring sex and sexuality including kink, as well as thinking about the intersections between race, class, sexuality and disability.
Issues I have worked with include, among others:
- anxiety
- loneliness/isolation
- sexual and domestic abuse
- depression
- gender identity
- eating disorders
- religious trauma
- suicidal ideation
- racial trauma
My approach
Anti-oppressive practice
As a humanistic therapist, I try to understand your unique lens on the world based on who you are and your life experiences, accounting for how that has been shaped by the culture in your family of origin and community. How you experienced the world growing up may have been impacted by discrimination or inequality on the basis of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability or other factors. I adopt an anti-oppressive framework which means that I consider how these conditions have affected and may continue to affect us both differently, and how they may enter into the therapy room too.
Understanding your frame
Childhood is a formative time for our development when we are reliant on others for care and to help us understand the world. Given that we can’t make sense of the world or control much of it as infants, we may create stories about how things or relationships work to make sense of things that have happened to us. At times we apply the logic of these stories in adult life without considering whether or not they still hold true for us.
In therapy, we can explore the expectations and narratives you may hold about yourself, relationships and the world through our relationship as client and therapist. Since we experience the world through our bodies, I may encourage attention to your mind and body together as a way to gain other insights into how you are feeling, and I may reflect and share my own felt sense too.
Room for change
Through this collaborative and embodied approach, your awareness of how you see yourself and others can grow. This may lead to acceptance of some things you are unable or unwilling to change, and change of things that you can or want to affect. In either case, charting the territory together may allow new ways of being to emerge. Sometimes, you may feel like experimenting with doing things differently in therapy itself, which in turn may make change feel possible in other relationships too.
Qualifications
I have a certificate in Humanistic Approaches to Counselling from The Metanoia Institute, London and a diploma with distinction in Humanistic Counselling and Psychotherapy from the University of Brighton. I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Barnsbury Therapy Rooms
Get in touch
If you’re interested in finding out more about therapy with me or if you have any questions, the best way to get in touch is by email: [email protected]. If you prefer to arrange a phone call, please send me your number and availability. I try to respond within 48 hours if I can.
The first session is a consultation, which is one hour and has a fee of £70. In the consultation we will discuss in some detail the issues bringing you to therapy as well as practical issues about ongoing work, such as the time we will meet and fee. Ongoing therapy sessions are 50 minutes and held weekly, my rate is £70. I do offer concession rates so please enquire.