Therapy can provide a space to make sense of your experience, explore unhelpful patterns and styles, and support you to develop ways of coping that are more helpful.
Vessel Psychology offers trauma-informed, neuroaffirming and culturally safe psychology support for adults experiencing eating and body image issues, identity related issues including neurodivergence (autism, ADHD +) gender, and complex trauma.
We care deeply about supporting you through whatever you bring to session, no matter how big or small it feels.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders impact people of all body shapes and sizes, genders, backgrounds and life stages. They may involve behaviours such as restriction of oral intake, binge eating, purging, compulsive exercise, rigid rules around food, anxiety around weight/shape and gaining weight, and distress around body image.
Due to cultural factors such as weight stigma, healthism, and diet culture, many people experience a preoccupation or disordered relationship with some aspect of their eating and/or movement behaviours, body weight, shape and size. Despite this, many people do not feel their difficulties are “severe” enough to seek formal help, or have had negative experiences in the past that invalidated their difficulties. Unfortunately behaviours such as dieting are rarely seen as problematic, particularly if you live in a fat, disabled, or weight-stigmatised body. If you are questioning whether you need support for eating and body related issues, chances are that you would benefit from therapy.
Therapy may support you to better understand the role eating or body-related concerns may be playing in your life, including the overlap with neurotype, anxiety, trauma, sensory needs, perfectionism, control, identity, relationships, and emotional distress. Therapy should be collaborative and at a pace that you feel comfortable with, and may include developing coping strategies, increasing self-understanding, increasing distress tolerance and emotion regulation, and more broadly, building a compassionate and sustainable relationship with food and your body.
When engaging in treatment for an eating disorder, it can be important and helpful to involve a multidisciplinary team. Typically this would involve regular check ins and monitoring with a GP, dietitian, and psychiatrist, though other health professionals such as an exercise physiologist or occupational therapist may also be beneficial.
Autism and ADHD
We support neurodivergent adults, including people who are formally diagnosed, self-identified, late-identified, questioning, or exploring whether ADHD, autism or AuDHD may be part of their experience. You do not need a formal diagnosis to seek support.
Neurodiversity-affirming therapy recognises that ADHD, autism and other forms of neurodivergence (CPTSD, dyslexia, dyscalculia) are not inherent problems to be fixed, but rather a different way of thinking, processing, and understanding the world each with a unique profile of strengths and difficulties. Neuroaffirming therapy can support you to better understand your neurotype, nervous system, needs, strengths, differences and the impact of living in an environment that by default, does not align with the way you think, feel, communicate or process the world.
People come to therapy for many different reasons, including burnout, masking, sensory overwhelm, executive functioning difficulties, emotional intensity, RSD/rejection sensitivity, co-occurring chronic health issues, relationship difficulties, workplace and study challenges, identity exploration, anxiety, depression, trauma, or fatigue associated with trying to function in a neurotypical world.
Therapy typically involves exploring your needs and what support, regulation, and communication looks like for you as an individual, rather than trying to force strategies that do not fit, or adhering to a specific type of therapy. We currently offer therapy and psychological support, rather than formal ADHD or autism diagnostic assessments. Assessments can be provided under certain circumstances, and we are also happy when needed, to provide additional referral options or assessment pathways.
Complex Trauma
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) or complex trauma develops after repeated, prolonged, attachment injuries and relational experiences of threat, harm, neglect, instability, abuse, coercion, loss, invalidation, and emotional unsafety.
CPTSD tends to be connected to childhood experiences, family relationships and dynamics, intimate relationships, medical experiences, systemic and institutionalised harm, bullying, discrimination, or other situations and experiences where safety, choice or support were limited.
The impacts of complex trauma are highly varied, and one presentation that folk may be familiar with or relate to is the highly stigmatised label of “Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)”. Rather than this being an inherent personality disorder, BPD traits are almost entirely explainable by a combination of CPTSD and other neurodivergence such as autism and ADHD. Other behaviours associated with CPTSD include anxiety, hypervigilance, dissociation, numbness, shame and self-criticism, people-pleasing, self-sacrificing, emotional overwhelm, difficulty trusting others, unhelpful relationship patterns that feel hard to shift, sleep difficulties, body-based distress, or a strong sense of being “too much” or “not enough”.
Therapy for complex trauma emphasises emotional and relational safety, developing a secure attachment, and does not mean you have to discuss all the details of your trauma in order to process it. Trauma-focused therapy involves understanding your patterns and behaviour as functional, learned responses that were previously helpful, but have become less and less helpful over time. Other aspects of therapy might include increasing self-compassion, acceptance, and emotional regulation, as well as being deliberate in how you interact with yourself and others.
LGBTQIA+, Culture, Identity, and Relationship Support
Starting therapy can be anxiety provoking enough, and for folk who are queer, trans, BIPOC, or in non-traditional relationship structures this anxiety is often amplified.
Exploring identity is often both exceptionally meaningful and exceptionally challenging. Some folk may initially seek therapy for other concerns and not be fully aware of the impact their identity or exploring their identity has on their wellbeing. Others may explicitly seek out therapy in order to process or explore an aspect of their sexuality, gender, or relationship structure, or have broader identity concerns around belonging, self-acceptance, coming out, transitioning, family relationships, discrimination, minority stress, or the impact of social expectations.
Vessel Psychology aims to provide an inclusive and affirming space for folk of all sexualities, gender identities, gender expressions, and relationship structures. This means providing a safe environment to nurture all parts of you, and explore your experiences, values, relationships, and sense of self without fearing judgement.
Our work is grounded in respect, curiosity, openness, and recognition of both the positives and negatives that accompany diverse identities and lived experiences. More specifically, therapy may focus on understanding your identity and various identity labels if this is important to you, emotional wellbeing, self-acceptance, navigating life transitions, strengthening relationships, processing difficult experiences, and building your confidence in living authentically.
Chronic pain and chronic health issues
Living with chronic pain, chronic illnesses, and other ongoing health concerns impact us much more than just physically. Issues with our physical bodies and health interact significantly with our psychological wellbeing, impacting our emotions, mood, identity, relationships, sense of self-worth, work, study, and ability to engage with life.
For many folk who have experienced trauma, or are neurodivergent, chronic health issues and chronic pain are just another aspect of daily life to contend with. Maintaining and addressing physical and mental health can be a delicate balancing act, and one that often feels overwhelming.
People may seek support in relation to specific difficulties managing conditions such as endometriosis, persistent pain, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders, Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, POTS, autoimmune conditions, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological conditions, complex medical presentations, and other long-term health concerns.
Under capitalism, folk living with invisible and chronic illnesses are often heavily disadvantaged, and the presence of ableist ideology often makes people question their worth if they are unable to be “productive” or “participate” in a way that fulfils societal expectations.
Therapy aims to acknowledge the many impacts of pain and chronic illness, while supporting you to care for yourself and your body as best you can. This may look like developing coping strategies for the emotional and psychological impacts of your health, navigating uncertainty, processing grief and loss, managing stress, reducing self-blame, strengthening self-compassion, and adjusting to changes in capacity, roles or future plans.
Perinatal and parenting
The perinatal period includes pregnancy, birth, postpartum, matrescence, and the broader transition into parenting. This is a time of significant emotional, physical, relational and identity change, which can be amplified for folk with complex identities or mental health.concerns. Even when a pregnancy or baby is deeply wanted, the experience can still feel overwhelming, distressing or very different from what you expected.
Perinatal mental health support may be particularly helpful if you have pre-existing mental health concerns such as an eating disorder, have experienced relational or attachment trauma, or your are neurodivergent. Additionally, if you are experiencing an increase in anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, grief, anger, or shame, it may be beneficial to seek additional mental health support.
Some people find it helpful to seek and establish support during pregnancy, while others prefer to “see how things go” and may reach out after birth. If you have experienced fertility-related anxiety or distress, pregnancy loss, birth trauma, are having difficulties with identity and relationship changes, relationship stress, adjustment difficulties, or fears about coping as a parent therapy might also be for you.
Therapy aims to provide a space for you to process and understand what is happening in your internal world, and how this may be linked to your early life experiences around your family, childhood, and relationships. Therapy should support you to understand your emotional responses, develop coping strategies, and explore the expectations, pressures, and changes that can come with pregnancy, birth, and parenting. Where helpful, therapy may also involve other support systems, communication with partners or family, and ways to reduce or prevent isolation.
Not sure where you fit?
Or relating to all of the above?
Many folk do not fit neatly into one category and most people’s experiences, neurotype, and current difficulties intersect and overlap in complex ways.
You are welcome to get in touch even if you aren’t sure about whether we are the right fit, and we are more than happy to support you in the right direction.