JD Psychotherapy - LGBTQ Affirmative Therapy

07/08/2025

This was the shop next to my 'Swansea Office' - the wooden door to the left.

03/08/2025

Understanding the Window of Tolerance in Trauma Therapy
The concept of the Window of Tolerance, developed by Dr. Dan Siegel, has become an essential framework in trauma-informed psychotherapy. It describes the optimal zone of arousal in which a person can function effectively, think clearly, and engage socially. For those who have experienced trauma, this window is often narrowed, resulting in frequent episodes of hyper- or hypoarousal. Therapists working with trauma clients find that teaching and referencing this model provides a powerful tool for co-regulation and self-awareness.
What Is the Window of Tolerance?
The Window of Tolerance represents a range of emotional intensity within which a person can remain regulated and responsive.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

31/07/2025

Introduction
In Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, Firefighter parts are protective subpersonalities that react quickly and often dramatically when a person is overwhelmed by emotional pain. Their goal is not to cause harm, but to prevent further suffering—usually by distracting the system through compulsive behaviours, dissociation, rage, or other urgent defences.

Rather than trying to control or suppress Firefighters, IFS invites us to understand, befriend, and listen to them. This article offers a list of therapist-friendly questions designed to help build a respectful, trusting relationship with Firefighter parts.
What Are Firefighter Parts?
Firefighters typically emerge in response to Exiles—parts that carry deep burdens like shame, fear, or grief. When those Exiles become activated, Firefighters jump in to shut the emotional experience down.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

23/07/2025

Introduction
In Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, Manager parts are proactive protectors that work to prevent emotional pain from surfacing. They strive to keep the system in control by managing behaviour, emotions, relationships, and external impressions. Unlike Firefighters, who act reactively in crises, Managers operate in the background—structuring lives, enforcing rules, and avoiding risk.

Engaging Manager parts requires patience, respect, and a commitment to non-pathologising their strategies. The questions below are designed to help therapists begin a dialogue with these often highly responsible and burdened parts.
What Are Manager Parts?
Managers are tasked with maintaining control and avoiding situations that might activate vulnerable Exiles—those parts holding unprocessed pain.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

18/07/2025

The Dangers of Using AI as a Therapist: When Speed Becomes a Threat
AI is being used in increasingly sophisticated ways to simulate human conversation and provide mental health support. While some apps and chatbots can offer valuable companionship or coping tools, using AI as a substitute for human psychotherapy carries significant risks—especially for clients with trauma histories. One emerging danger is that AI moves too fast, pushing clients into emotional content before they are ready, which can lead to re-traumatisation.
AI and the Absence of Attunement
Human therapists are trained to listen not just to the words but to the body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and pauses of the client. They are also trained to feel into the client’s experience—what Daniel Stern (2004) called “affective attunement.” In contrast, AI models, no matter how refined, respond only to textual input and cannot perceive or respond to the client’s non-verbal cues or embodied state.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

14/07/2025

Panic in the Therapy Room: Grounding vs. Internal Family Systems
When someone experiences a panic attack during therapy, the typical response is to help them “ground” — reconnecting with the present moment through the five senses, breathwork, or body awareness. This somatic approach often offers vital immediate relief. However, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model invites a different, more curious stance: rather than soothing the panic directly, IFS encourages us to relate to the part that is panicking — or more often, to the protector trying to manage overwhelming emotions.

This article explores the contrast between traditional grounding and the IFS response to panic, and how each holds value depending on context and therapeutic intention.

Traditional Grounding: Reconnecting with the Present
Grounding is a widely used strategy in trauma-informed care. It works by bringing the client’s attention away from overwhelming inner experiences and back to the external, present moment.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

11/07/2025

Introduction
I recently went on an Internal Family Systems (IFS). So that I have an easy reference, I am writing a few articles around what I learned. IFS was developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz and is a psychotherapeutic model grounded in the belief that the mind is naturally multiple. In IFS, the psyche is understood as a system of ‘parts’—subpersonalities that each hold emotions, roles, and beliefs. The healing journey involves building relationships with these parts through the Self, a core of calm, compassionate presence.

At the heart of the IFS model lies a gentle, structured process often described through the Six F’s. These steps help therapists and clients build respectful, healing relationships with parts. Let’s explore each one.

The Six F’s of IFS Therapy
1. Find
This first step involves identifying a part that is active in the client’s internal system. It may show up as a feeling, thought, body sensation, or behaviour.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

01/07/2025

Introduction
In Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, healing doesn’t come from analysing or overpowering parts—it comes from being present with them from the core of our being. This core is known as the Self.

The Self in IFS is not a part; it is the innate, undamaged centre of our consciousness. I liken it to the Adult in transactional analysis, but it is not an exact counterpart. When we are in Self, we are able to lead our internal system with compassion and clarity. To help us recognise when we are in Self, IFS identifies eight core qualities—often called the Eight C’s of Self.

The Eight C’s of Self
These eight qualities serve as internal landmarks, signalling when a person is accessing Self-energy:
1. Calm
A sense of inner peace and stillness. Calmness allows for a stable presence with parts that are agitated, afraid, or overwhelmed.
2.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

25/06/2025

Introduction
Another article commemorating Pride Month. The LGBTQ+ movement has always been about solidarity, mutual recognition, and collective liberation. Yet, recent calls to remove the “T” — transgender — from LGBTQ+ betray the very principles on which the movement was built. These efforts not only ignore the shared experiences of marginalisation but also deny the historical and ongoing contributions of trans people to le***an, gay, and bisexual (LGB) rights. This article explores why removing the “T” is both harmful and historically inaccurate.
A Shared Struggle: Identity, Oppression, and Liberation
The notion that trans and LGB people experience separate and unrelated forms of oppression overlooks how gender identity and sexual orientation have long been conflated by dominant power structures.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

20/06/2025

Introduction
As June is Pride month, I have decided to have a look at something that has become a focus in recent weeks. Toilets and changing rooms are more than just practical spaces — they are social battlegrounds. Since the 1800s, these facilities have been used to enforce rigid gender binaries and moral norms, excluding both trans and gay people from public life. This exclusion is not incidental: it reflects how society polices bodies that deviate from heterosexual and cisgender expectations. This article explores the historical and contemporary significance of these exclusions, highlighting the shared experiences of marginalisation and resistance.
Victorian Infrastructure and Moral Panic
The 19th century marked the rise of urban planning, and with it came the gendering of public space. In Victorian Britain, public toilets were built primarily for men — supporting male participation in the public sphere.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

12/06/2025

🏳️‍⚧️ How to Support Trans People During Pride Month
Introduction
Pride Month is a time of celebration, remembrance, and resistance. While the entire LGBTQ+ community deserves recognition and support, trans people—especially trans women of colour—have often been at the forefront of q***r liberation movements, yet remain disproportionately targeted by discrimination and violence. Offering genuine, informed support during Pride Month is both an act of solidarity and a necessary commitment to justice.
1. Educate Yourself First
Allyship begins with education. Learn about the history of trans rights, the barriers trans people face today, and how systemic transphobia operates.

- Read books by trans authors such as Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon or Whipping Girl by Julia Serano.
- Follow trans creators and activists on social media.
- Explore reputable organisations like Stonewall UK and Mermaids.

2. Use Inclusive and Respectful Language
Language shapes experience.

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.

08/06/2025

{body}{extended}

Offering face-to-face psychotherapy in Carmarthen and Swansea, specialising in LGBTQ+ and ADHD: trauma, anxiety, and depression. Your path to healing and self-acceptance starts here.