Suzanne O'Leary

I currently have availability throughout the week for both face-to-face and online therapy sessions.

Hello, I am Suzanne, a psychotherapeutic counsellor based in Brighton and Hove. I offer face-to-face and online therapy sessions. 

I have specific experience of supporting people living with the impact of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and interpersonal trauma.

I offer short as well as long term sessions centred around your needs. 

My practice is rooted in the person-centred approach; I aim to provide a safe space in which to help you to make sense of your experiences so that you can move forward feeling that you have choice and control over your future. 

I believe that we all have the inner wisdom and resources that we need to heal from painful experiences, but trauma can mean that we stay stuck in survival mode, where we repeat patterns or unhelpful coping mechanisms, or struggle to cope with new situations, or even face the day.

Counselling can be understood, not as ‘fixing’ or diagnosing anything, but as a way of making sense of our experiences and exploring the ways we learnt to cope, or even survive. By telling our story in our own words, we can begin to understand ourselves better, which can help to reduce a sense of isolation, shame and self-blame that abusive experiences can result in.

A therapeutic relationship can guide you towards a path where you understand and accept yourself, and offer compassion towards the part of you that was hurt and still hurts. When we do this, we feel more self-determining and able to face life’s challenges. 

I have a background in supporting survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse, adverse childhood experiences and toxic relationships.

My approach is narrative-based; you tell your story where you want to begin and I will be alongside you, offering a therapeutic perspective and theoretical framework, where it seems appropriate, based on my training, professional experience and understanding of relational trauma and adverse experiences, which may help to bring a fresh perspective on things and deepen your understanding of yourself and your resilience.

I am also a Trauma Informed Somatic Yoga teacher and I have a deep understanding of trauma and the nervous system. As well as the benefits of talking therapy, I believe that adopting an embodied approach to counselling ie., supporting the nervous system to heal is a powerful and lasting part of my offering. 

I offer a free initial 15 minute chat for you to ask questions about my approach and assess whether you think we could work together. If you decide to proceed to a full 50 minute session, this would be on the phone, in person or online.

In our first session we will discuss any previous experience of counselling you may have had, and what you may/may not have found helpful.

We will explore your expectations for our work together and identify the main areas of your life that you would like support with.

We will look at your support network and current coping mechanisms and anything else you could put in place to help you to feel supported during the counselling process.

We would arrange to meet on a regular day and time and agree when we will review our work together so that you feel fully in control of the situation and whether it is meeting your expectations.