Develop trust in your own wings
Open-ended counselling, boundary & group boundary sessions.
Safe, client-led therapy to help you heal, grow and regain autonomy.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck or unsure how to move forward, therapy can be the first step toward autonomy, clarity and empowered change.
“You are what you choose to be.”
The Iron Giant
Consider these questions to help you understand what you are looking for from therapy:
What are you experiencing?
How are these experiences affecting you?
How could addressing these experiences improve your life?
Who else would notice these changes?
What could hinder you from progressing and achieving your aims?
I am a BACP member (number 386844).
I hold a Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
Therapeutic Counselling focuses on the experiences you have had, and what they meant to you.
NLP focuses on creating a space for you to notice your body’s reaction to the images or senses your mind creates; giving you an opportunity to be less engaged with the perceived threat.
CPCAB Level 5 in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a certificate in Mother Daughter Coaching and a Certificate in Online and Telephone Counselling.
CBT focuses on challenging your assumptions and predictions.
These are basic explanations of the approaches I use. There are many new and continually improving therapeutic approaches for clients to take advantage of.
“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
Vincent Van Gogh
My approach is grounded in three key perspectives:
INNER CHILD
Exploring emotional experiences – understanding how your feelings were formed and what impact they had on your development
ADULT SELF
Reframing the past – gaining insight into how past experiences influence your current beliefs, behaviours and relationships.
FUTURE SELF
Building the future you want for yourself – supporting you in creating a more accepting, empowered version of yourself with a clearer vision of your future.
Swan Counselling Service is named after the story of The Ugly Duckling. A story about surviving emotional pain and rejection to find freedom and acceptance in understanding who you really are.
I provide an emotionally safe space to explore the roots of your thoughts and emotions, to understand the impact those thoughts and emotions have on your current choices in life. Breaking out of cycles of guilt, shame, blame and the anger, anxiety and depression these cycles create, can be challenging. I offer tools to understand and process these emotions safely in a confidential and non-judgemental environment.
With focus on the adult-self, I help you navigate complex family relationships, including those affected by abuse, generational conflict, trauma, grief and identity struggles. My training as a Mother-Daughter Coach helps me guide you through exploring parent, sibling and wider family dynamics (including father-son). My focus is on creating awareness, with a reflection on the impact of gender dynamics on present-day relationship challenges.
I work flexibly to meet your individual needs, drawing on a range of therapeutic approaches to help you reconnect with yourself and create meaningful change. My goal is to support and empower you, as you build healthier, congruent relationships and take on new challenges with confidence.
Think of a therapist like a coat. Sometimes you need the warmth of a soft approach or you may need something sturdy to help redirect the rain. You would usually try on a new coat and consider what you will be using it for.
“Freedom is having nothing to hide, nothing to prove, and nothing to chase.”
Unknown
Boundaries for yourself and others are no longer overlooked as part of mental health awareness. Understanding where and how to apply boundaries is important to building safe relationships.
Whether the issues are at work, at home or with your wider family; I provide the same structured approach to understanding “The Boundary Maze”.
My aim is to empower you to examine what boundaries you have at the moment, and reflect on what they need to be in the future.
“The Boundary Maze” is a set of tools designed to help clients know when to take, or give accountability. Putting in boundaries with difficult people can be scary. “The Boundary Maze”, is not a list of suggestions of what to say or do, it is designed to promote resilience and autonomy in difficult situations. Drawing upon Transactional Analysis, and the Drama Triangle, the focus is on your abilities and developing trust in yourself.
“People who feel empty never heal by merging with another incomplete person. On the contrary, two broken-winged birds coupled into one make for clumsy flight”.
Irvin D. Yalom
What does an Orange taste like?
Each orange is unique. I cannot know what the last orange you ate tasted like. I only know the experiences I have had eating oranges.
Can you describe the difference between the taste of an Orange, and the taste of a Grapefruit, to someone who has never eaten either?
We have very limited language in comparison to the information our body stores and the emotional meanings of words can change. If we do not recognise difference, conflict becomes unresolvable, because we don’t understand why the conflict is there.
The words neurodivergent and disorder can only exist with the presumption of “order” or something to diverge from.
It is problematic to assume there is a correct way of thinking and feeling. As though there is one correct way to describe an Orange.
With Swan Counselling, I take a different approach from the very beginning. The question is not “What’s wrong with you?” There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just human. The question is “Are your tools working for you?” and “What do you need?”
Recognising that ours and other people’s internal experiences can be almost the same, but still very different creates autonomy. The focus of therapy can then be on removing blame, shame, and guilt by creating a shift to using accountability, ownership and responsibility.
“If someone can’t show up for you, they are revealing their capacity, and not a reflection of your worth.”
Dr. Scott Lyons
“Lizzie has been wonderful, supportive, thoughtful, helpful, professional and a critically vital important voice during my separation and divorce journey. I recommend her unreservedly. My therapy with Lizzie has – quite literally – been the most important thing I have done in the last 20 years. I am so grateful to have found her – she’s an ideal match for my therapy needs. I have been seeing Lizzie weekly for around 18 months and it has improved my mental health, wellbeing and general sense of “me” immeasurably.”
— Written on Jun 14, 2025 after therapy with Lizzie for 1 year and 7 months on issues concerning stress, anxiety, relationship issues, family conflicts, intimacy-related issues, coaching, compassion fatigue, and adhd.
Boundary group work testimonials
I highly recommend this group on boundaries. Lizzie London is a wealth of good information and created a safe open experience for all. I would like to go back to this group. Very beneficial. Thank you so much for being such a good platform of support. Can’t say enough about the level of care and support this community provides.
— 09/09/2025
I liked Lizzie’s way of explaining some of the things we do and why, and then showing us how to work through those areas in productive ways.
— 23/09/2025
The best session yet – Lizzie was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. She gave everyone a chance to speak and helped them by answering their issues in a generic way, which was helpful for them and the whole group.
— 23/09/2025
FAQs
Counselling work open-ended sessions, UK only
Each session lasts 50 minutes
Sessions are available between 11am and 7pm Monday to Friday
Some weekend sessions are available by request
Boundary work 6 to 8 sessions
International clients welcome
Group boundary session available on request
Each session lasts 50 minutes
