Eda Saaid

About me 

As someone who has lived and moved through multiple countries, I believe the sense of being between places, cultures, and communities has shaped who I am as much as any qualification has. What drives me, in and outside the therapy room, is a genuine care for people. I find the human experience endlessly fascinating.

My experience

My experience spans schools, prisons, perinatal mental health services, NHS and private practices, and along the way I've sat with people through a wide range of what life brings: family difficulties, estrangement, the transitions of parenthood, birth trauma, neurodiversity, childhood trauma, relationship and sex difficulties, low mood, anxiety, work stress and job loss, and the ache of friendships ending. Whatever you're bringing to this space, I'll meet it with the same care and curiosity I bring to everything else.

Culturally, neurodiversity, and trauma informed practice

Who we are and where we come from shapes everything: how we were raised, what we were taught to feel or hide, and how the world responds to us. 

I know first-hand how culture, faith, family expectations and identity can weave through your struggles, and how isolating it can feel when a therapist doesn't quite get that. I work with an awareness that the different parts of who you are intersect and can't be separated out neatly. I don't shy away from these conversations, and you won't have to defend your experience before we can work with it.

I understand that many of the ways we cope once made complete sense, even if they're getting in the way now. We'll go at a pace that feels manageable for you, you'll always have a say in what we explore and when - feeling safe comes first.

I try to show up as a human being first, and a therapist second, while always working within the ethical and professional standards my training holds me to.

In our sessions, we'll spend time looking at how the past shows up in your present; the patterns, reactions, and ways of relating that were shaped somewhere earlier in your life and are still quietly at work today. But understanding why something happens is only the first part. Once we can see it clearly, the real question becomes "now what?" and that's usually where the deeper change actually starts to happen.

We'll also pay attention to the body, not just the mind. So much of what we carry lives from the neck down, and reconnecting with that can open up things words alone can't reach. 

Where it's useful, we'll bring in practical tools/skills too, but never as a handout or a concept explained at you. If something doesn't land, it isn't doing its job, so we'll find what actually fits you.

More than any technique, though, I believe what heals is the experience of being truly held and witnessed by another person. So a session with me should feel safe enough to be honest in, and honest enough that it won't always feel comfortable. We'll sit through the hard, tense moments together rather than around them. We might laugh. We might hit a serious, heavy silence. We might even disagree or misstep with each other at some point, because the relationship itself, built and repaired in real time, is where the healing happens. I'm not a robot, and I don't want to perform therapy AT you.

So honestly, a session with me looks like whatever you need it to be!

Our first session is really a chance for us to get to know each other. I'll be curious about what's brought you to therapy, and why now. I'll ask about what you're hoping to get from our work together, so I can shape my approach around you rather than fitting you into a set way of working. 

It's just as much a space for you to ask me anything, whether about me, how I work, or what therapy might look like. There are no wrong questions, and I want you to feel as comfortable as possible with the process.

Most importantly, I want you to come away with a sense of whether I feel like the right person for you. Feeling at ease with your therapist matters, so there's no pressure to commit to anything after our first meeting. If I feel a different style of therapy or another professional might suit your needs better, I'll be honest with you about that and help you find the right support.