Al Wilkinson

My training is in psychodynamic psychotherapy, a particular branch of talk therapy that concerns itself with unconscious patterns.

Imagine your mind is like an iceberg. The surface thoughts and feelings are just the tip. Psychodynamic psychotherapy focuses on what’s happening beneath the surface, in your unconscious. The core idea is that our past experiences, especially early relationships and childhood dynamics, sculpt how we think, feel, and behave today.

Understanding these patterns can help you break free of repetitive relationship traps, oversensitivity to minor criticisms, or feeling an undercurrent of anxiety you can't quite pinpoint.

In the room, a psychodynamic approach feels much more like an open, flowing conversation than a clinical interview. Unlike some structured therapies that give you weekly worksheets, this style invites you to talk freely about whatever is on your mind—dreams, random memories, current stressors, or even how you feel about the therapy itself. My job as a therapist is to support, collaborate and offer insights to help you connect the dots. Together we can identify hidden coping mechanisms, and bring blind spots into the light. It's a fascinating process of self-discovery. Understanding what is behind your unhelpful responses can be the first step to changing them.

Ultimately, the goal of psychodynamic therapy isn't just to patch up temporary problems, but rather to foster deep, lasting personal growth. By safely exploring the messy, complicated parts of your inner world, you start to untangle old emotional knots that have been holding you back. This heightened self-awareness naturally weakens the grip that past habits have over your life. While it requires a bit of vulnerability and patience, the payoff is profound: you gain a much clearer understanding of yourself, healthier ways of relating to others, and the genuine freedom to make new, intentional choices rather than just repeating old history.