Samantha Fairgrieve

Monday 9.30am to 3pm

Tuesday 9.30am to 3pm

Wednesday 8.30am to 3pm

Thursday 9.30am to 4pm

Friday 9.30am to 3pm

Many people I work with appear capable, thoughtful and conscientious, yet privately struggle with low self-esteem, chronic self-doubt and the pressure to get things right. Perfectionistic standards and a tendency to put others first can make it difficult to trust your own judgement or stay connected to what you really want and feel.

I help people work through the emotional dynamics that maintain these difficulties so they can develop a stronger sense of themselves and greater trust in their own authority.

Even when you understand these dynamics intellectually, they can still take over under pressure. With the right therapeutic focus however, they can change.

You may find it difficult to listen to yourself, make decisions without second-guessing or tolerate your own emotions without guilt. You might feel “too much” or “not enough”, hold yourself to relentless or perfectionistic standards, struggle to assert your needs or constantly adjust yourself to keep others happy.

These pressures often extend into relationships and other areas of life, leaving you unsure how to respond, overly cautious about others’ reactions or disconnected from yourself. Therapy offers a focused space to work directly with the deeper emotional dynamics that keep these difficulties in place.

Through this work you can reconnect with your emotional experience, gain greater clarity and self-trust and feel more secure in your own authority and direction. I continue to undertake advanced clinical training and supervision to deepen and refine my work.

My approach is informed primarily by Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), an evidence-based method that works directly with the emotional roots of long-standing difficulties such as perfectionism, people-pleasing, self-doubt and low self-esteem. ISTDP focuses on unconscious processes and protective strategies that continue to affect self-worth, confidence and emotional wellbeing.

Gaining insight into these dynamics can be important, but lasting change comes from engaging with the emotional conflicts that underlie them. In sessions we pay close attention to your emotional experience as it arises, helping you transform long-standing responses at their source. This approach allows you to uncover and work through the internal processes that maintain difficulties, including self-neglect, over-adaptation and avoidance of your own wants, needs or feelings.

Many people who come to therapy notice familiar experiences: feeling “too much” or “not enough”, second-guessing decisions, placing intense pressure on themselves to get things right, giving up their own needs to keep others happy or struggling to assert themselves without guilt. These ways of relating can leave you disconnected from your own desires, uncertain about who you are or constantly seeking external validation.

Through focused, in-depth work you can reconnect with your own feelings and desires, strengthen self-trust and establish a more secure relationship with yourself. Many clients begin to notice meaningful shifts early in the process as we work directly with the emotional dynamics shaping their difficulties. The work continues at a pace that suits you, allowing change to unfold both efficiently and safely.

I offer in-person therapy in Bath and online across the UK. I also offer a free 15-minute introductory chat where you can briefly outline what’s bringing you to therapy, ask any questions and decide whether you would like to work together.

In the first sessions we focus on understanding the difficulties you want help with, how they appear in your life and relationships and what you hope may change. We begin exploring the emotional dynamics and conflicts that contribute to these difficulties and how they operate in the present.

In these early sessions you will begin to notice important patterns in how you think, feel and respond, helping create a clearer understanding of what is maintaining the difficulties and how the work can support meaningful change.

From the outset sessions are focused and collaborative. We work at a pace that supports genuine transformation while remaining safe and manageable, with careful attention to emotional experience and anxiety regulation. The aim is to develop a clear understanding of what is happening so you can begin to break cycles of perfectionism, people-pleasing and low self-esteem and strengthen self-trust, confidence and security in your own authority.

Monday 9.30am to 3pm

Tuesday 9.30am to 3pm

Wednesday 8.30am to 3pm

Thursday 9.30am to 4pm

Friday 9.30am to 3pm

Many people I work with appear capable, thoughtful and conscientious, yet privately struggle with low self-esteem, chronic self-doubt and the pressure to get things right. Perfectionistic standards and a tendency to put others first can make it difficult to trust your own judgement or stay connected to what you really want and feel.

I help people work through the emotional dynamics that maintain these difficulties so they can develop a stronger sense of themselves and greater trust in their own authority.

Even when you understand these dynamics intellectually, they can still take over under pressure. With the right therapeutic focus however, they can change.

You may find it difficult to listen to yourself, make decisions without second-guessing or tolerate your own emotions without guilt. You might feel “too much” or “not enough”, hold yourself to relentless or perfectionistic standards, struggle to assert your needs or constantly adjust yourself to keep others happy.

These pressures often extend into relationships and other areas of life, leaving you unsure how to respond, overly cautious about others’ reactions or disconnected from yourself. Therapy offers a focused space to work directly with the deeper emotional dynamics that keep these difficulties in place.

Through this work you can reconnect with your emotional experience, gain greater clarity and self-trust and feel more secure in your own authority and direction. I continue to undertake advanced clinical training and supervision to deepen and refine my work.

My approach is informed primarily by Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), an evidence-based method that works directly with the emotional roots of long-standing difficulties such as perfectionism, people-pleasing, self-doubt and low self-esteem. ISTDP focuses on unconscious processes and protective strategies that continue to affect self-worth, confidence and emotional wellbeing.

Gaining insight into these dynamics can be important, but lasting change comes from engaging with the emotional conflicts that underlie them. In sessions we pay close attention to your emotional experience as it arises, helping you transform long-standing responses at their source. This approach allows you to uncover and work through the internal processes that maintain difficulties, including self-neglect, over-adaptation and avoidance of your own wants, needs or feelings.

Many people who come to therapy notice familiar experiences: feeling “too much” or “not enough”, second-guessing decisions, placing intense pressure on themselves to get things right, giving up their own needs to keep others happy or struggling to assert themselves without guilt. These ways of relating can leave you disconnected from your own desires, uncertain about who you are or constantly seeking external validation.

Through focused, in-depth work you can reconnect with your own feelings and desires, strengthen self-trust and establish a more secure relationship with yourself. Many clients begin to notice meaningful shifts early in the process as we work directly with the emotional dynamics shaping their difficulties. The work continues at a pace that suits you, allowing change to unfold both efficiently and safely.

I offer in-person therapy in Bath and online across the UK. I also offer a free 15-minute introductory chat where you can briefly outline what’s bringing you to therapy, ask any questions and decide whether you would like to work together.

In the first sessions we focus on understanding the difficulties you want help with, how they appear in your life and relationships and what you hope may change. We begin exploring the emotional dynamics and conflicts that contribute to these difficulties and how they operate in the present.

In these early sessions you will begin to notice important patterns in how you think, feel and respond, helping create a clearer understanding of what is maintaining the difficulties and how the work can support meaningful change.

From the outset sessions are focused and collaborative. We work at a pace that supports genuine transformation while remaining safe and manageable, with careful attention to emotional experience and anxiety regulation. The aim is to develop a clear understanding of what is happening so you can begin to break cycles of perfectionism, people-pleasing and low self-esteem and strengthen self-trust, confidence and security in your own authority.