Emily Kyte Therapy

31/03/2026

When therapy isn’t working, it isn’t always the client who needs to change.

Many people arrive in therapy having already tried other forms of therapy. Sometimes they describe feeling as though they somehow failed those experiences.

They may have been given strategies, exercises, or homework, and when those things did not seem to help, it left them feeling more self-critical rather than more understood.

Directive approaches can be very helpful for many people. But they are not the right fit for everyone.

In person-centred therapy, the focus is less on techniques and more on the therapeutic relationship. The work centres on helping clients understand themselves more deeply and develop trust in their own experience.

From this perspective, meaningful change does not come from advice. It comes from the client’s growing awareness of their own feelings, needs, and values.

Sometimes what people need most in therapy is not another strategy.

It is a space where they can be deeply listened to.



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26/03/2026

One thing I hear quite often from clients is that previous therapy left them feeling like they were somehow getting it wrong.

Sometimes this happens when therapy is very directive. If exercises, techniques, or homework do not seem to work, clients can end up feeling more self-critical rather than more understood.

Person-centred therapy takes a different approach.

Rather than offering advice or strategies, the focus is on creating the relational conditions where clients can understand themselves more deeply and begin to find their own sense of direction.

I have written a short piece about this for anyone interested in how person-centred therapy can support clients who have not found more directive approaches helpful.



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18/03/2026

Non-directive therapy is often misunderstood as “not doing much”. And some clients find it hard to get the point of a therapy relationship that isn't based on advice-giving.

In reality, a great deal happens when advice is set aside and understanding is prioritised.

I’ve written a piece that explores what person-centred therapy actually offers, and why the absence of advice can be meaningful.

Feel free to share with clients or colleagues.
Link in bio.




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16/03/2026

Why I won’t tell my clients what to do 💭

People often imagine therapy as a place where the therapist gives advice or tells you the “right” thing to do. But that isn’t how I work.

In person-centred therapy, we believe that people have a natural capacity for growth and healing when the right conditions are present. Carl Rogers called this the actualising tendency. My role isn’t to direct my clients’ lives, but to create a space where their own understanding can emerge 🌱

One reason I don’t give advice is because my clients know their lives far better than I ever will. I might hear their story for an hour each week, but they are the ones living it every day. My perspective will always be limited. Respecting someone’s autonomy means recognising that.

Advice can also create subtle power dynamics in the therapy relationship. If I position myself as the expert in someone else’s life, it can encourage people to look outside themselves for answers. Over time this can create dependence on the therapist’s opinion, sometimes described in therapy as transference.

Many people already come to therapy having experienced their voice being dismissed, controlled, or overridden in other relationships or systems. Trauma-informed approaches remind us that healing often involves helping people reconnect with their own sense of agency and choice 🧭

Advice-giving can unintentionally weaken trust in a person’s own inner experience. In person-centred theory, growth involves developing an internal locus of evaluation. This means learning to trust your own feelings, values, and sense of what is right for you.

So instead of telling my clients what to do, I try to understand their world as they experience it. Through empathy, openness, and acceptance, we explore things together 🤝

And often something powerful happens.

When people feel deeply heard and understood, clarity begins to emerge.

Not because someone told them the answer
but because they discovered it within themselves ✨

13/03/2026

I’ve just completed two days of ASIST (Applied Su***de Intervention Skills Training) with , and I’m really grateful for the experience.

I’m leaving the training with a much deeper understanding and greater confidence when supporting people who may be struggling with thoughts of su***de. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to learn these life-saving skills and to be part of such important conversations. 💛

***dePrevention ***deIntervention

11/03/2026

Therapy always involves power.

The question is how that power is held.

Many people arrive in therapy used to deferring to authority, asking to be told what to do or how to be. Over time, something often shifts. A sense of agency, self-trust, and permission to know themselves begins to grow.

In person-centred therapy, I try to work without power over people. Not by pretending power doesn’t exist, but by using the relationship to support autonomy rather than control.

I’ve written a new blog post reflecting on what this means, and why it matters, especially for those whose voices have been marginalised.

You can read it via the link in my bio 🤍🔗


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09/03/2026

I've been working on an update to my website, and am very excited to share it with you all! If you have a minute to spare, please follow the link in my bio, and let me know what you think! 🔗😀

I'm especially excited that the brilliant illustrator and tattoo artist .jpg / .tattoo has created some amazing digital artwork for my website and socials- so grateful for her fabulous work!

03/03/2026

I’m working on some exciting changes to my website!

In the meantime, please feel free to contact me via my email address emily.kyte@yahoo.com if you want to find out more about what I do!

26/02/2026

Being yourself can feel surprisingly vulnerable.
So we learn to adjust, soften, or perform in order to belong.

Growth happens when there’s enough safety to let our guard down and listen inwardly.

I am working on a big update to my website, and I really enjoyed taking these self-portraits at . I'd highly recommend this experience for anyone Brighton-based, particularly anyone who, like me, struggles to be yourself in front of a camera!

26/02/2026

What It Means to Work Without Power Over People

One of the things I return to again and again in my work is the question of power. Not in a dramatic or abstract sense, but in the ordinary, relational ways power shows up between people....

One of the things I return to again and again in my work is the question of power. Not in a dramatic or abstract sense, but in the ordinary, relational ways power shows up between people.

21/02/2026

The therapeutic belief in the ‘actualising tendency’- the basic idea that we are all just doing the best we can- can be difficult to understand when we see individuals behaving in ways that we do not condone.

Barbara Brodley writes energetically that belief in the actualising tendency does not stop us from preventing harm to ourselves and others.

‘Respect for persons is regardless of their flaws, mistakes or crimes. The person who adopts the actualizing tendency as an operative principle in his or her view of human functioning is likely to hold a compassionate attitude towards people and their shortcomings. Humans are profoundly vulnerable to circumstances beyond their control - especially in early developmental life. Destructive feelings and actions are thought to be the result of historical or immediate unfavorable circumstances acting in or on the person. Circumstances are, by definition in the theory, beyond the person’s choice or control at that time.
An implication of the actualizing tendency concept is that persons are fundamentally innocent even when they are obviously guilty of bad behavior.
The view that people are inherently innocent promotes understanding and sympathy. It does not, however, preclude moral, ethical or legal judgments about bad behavior. It does not preclude feeling responsible for one’s behavior nor preclude holding other persons responsible for their actions. It does not prevent individuals or social groups from acting rationally to protect themselves or others from persons who commit bad actions. It does not preclude the creation of legal punishments for behavior that causes injury to others. It does affect the manner of judgments and the kinds of consequences imposed for bad actions. The view that people are basically innocent imbues mora, ethical and legal responses to them with compassion, empathy and the intention to be fair.
The actualizing tendency principle fosters an attitude of respect for persons and for persons innate capacities for self-determination, for finding solutions and for therapeutic change.’

Barbara Brodley