Get to know us - Marisa Poggioli

I completed my initial training at Goldsmiths College University of London and St Thomas Hospital London, where I learned CAT (Cognitive Analytic Therapy). I am a Counselling Psychologist and Cognitive Analytic Therapist. I am also qualified in EMDR and other approaches such as DBT, CBT, ACT and Polyvagal Theory which explains relational neuroscience. My training has continued throughout my working life, and I incorporate skills from other models.

Where required, I teach mindfulness to slow down the busy mind and essential skills for self-regulation of the nervous system by teaching how to develop resource pathways to calm the Vagus nerve to recover your innate abilities for resilience. Major studies in neurobiology suggest that our brains are embodied social organs and that the neural pathways dominating our nervous system develop according to our relationships with others and the environment surrounding us.

Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) is a relational type of therapy I use to help people discover and think about how they relate to themselves and others and how they react to their environment. In this context, relationships are like a dance. We initially learn how to relate and regulate ourselves with another early on. We then go on to have a relationship with others and with ourselves, with our culture.

I can help you recognize, revise, and usefully change learned patterns of behaviour that are no longer useful. Together we can work out manageable ways to change learned behavior patterns of thinking and relating that, based on our earlier need to survive, have become redundant and unhelpful; for example, you may be stuck in a pattern of “whatever I do its never good enough” or “no one ever helps me, I have to do everything myself”,  or regulating your emotions through prescribed medicines, alcohol or other substances.

It is helpful to get off the symptom hook and understand what patterns of relating contribute to symptoms; we can become consciously aware of how we automatically respond to cues from the relational, cultural, and physical environment.

The sessions are focused on helping you recognize, heal and learn more constructive ways to deal with the problems or issues that are causing emotional pain and where the solutions that have been attempted have not proved helpful.

Therapy can also be a supportive process when going through a difficult time or under increased stress, such as starting a new career or going through a divorce. I can also help with recurring mental health concerns such as recurring anxiety, depression or anger problems, panic and many others issues, such as bipolar disorder, OCD, ADHD and more.

I can help you learn to be a better observer of yourself, noticing when you are self-critical and learning to be kind to yourself, clearing a greater space to practice different ways of expressing yourself.

When we change problematic patterns, we change our lives, although ways of thinking can feel as if they are very rigid and dominating, and the solutions we choose can appear inevitable.

In most cases, we will focus on problem-solving and be goal orientated. At the onset of treatment, we will think about the specific changes you would like to make in your life. These goals can be broken down into smaller attainable objectives if necessary.

Psychological help is most useful when you are motivated to enter therapy and want to change. Change means altering those aspects of your life that are not working for you any longer or are contributing to or helping you maintain the problems or difficulties you are experiencing. Therapy is often about challenging one’s own set of beliefs, and it is most successful when a person is able and willing to try to do this in a safe and supportive environment.

I have mostly worked for the NHS in the UK but have also worked in private practice. My experience is with adults with different ranges of complexity, from stress responses to situations to more complex trauma.

I now share my time between London and the Italian mountains, where I share a converted barn with my husband and cats.

I enjoy walking, gardening, and reading. I have also done a little writing.

Marisa has experience treating and can offer help for the following conditions:

• Depression and mood issues
• Anxiety
• Panic Disorder
• Social Anxiety
• OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
• Health Anxiety
• Specific Phobias
• GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder)
• Anger
• Personality Disorders
• Eating Difficulties
• Sexuality and Sexual Issues
• Physical Health Problems
• Chronic Pain
• Chronic Fatigue (M.E.)
• Addictions
• PTSD/Trauma
• Relationship Difficulties
• Work Stress
• Low Confidence/Esteem
• Bereavement
• Bipolar

Marisa offers online therapy only. She can practice in both English and Italian