Therapy for Self-Worth and Identity

You might find it easier to recognise other people’s needs than your own, or feel that your worth depends on doing enough, being liked or getting things right. Questions about identity and belonging can be difficult to put into words. Therapy offers a place to explore them without needing to present a confident or settled version of yourself.

Comparison, second-guessing and harsh internal commentary may show up at work, in relationships or when you are alone. You may dismiss praise, hesitate to express a preference or feel caught between fitting in and being yourself. Your experience might look quite different from these examples. We can start with what feels familiar rather than treating a description as a label.

My integrative approach makes room for the experiences, relationships and wider contexts that shape how you see yourself. We might consider whose expectations feel important, what belonging has meant in your life, or which parts of yourself have felt difficult to share. There is no assumption that a single event explains your experience or that one ideal identity is waiting to be uncovered.

Being told to be more confident can itself feel like pressure. In therapy, we can attend to uncertainty, contradiction and the wish to be accepted. Humanistic and relational perspectives give space to your own meaning; psychodynamic thinking invites curiosity about recurring patterns; existential questions may open up reflection on choice and what matters to you.

You do not have to begin with a clear goal or talk about every part of your identity. I listen, ask questions and offer reflections for us to consider together. You can disagree or change the focus. Therapy does not promise to cure low self-esteem; we can explore how your relationship with yourself is experienced and how the work feels over time.

We meet through a video platform agreed before the first appointment. You need a private place where you can speak without being overheard, and a stable connection. A session lasts 50 minutes and can begin with a present concern, a recent interaction or a feeling that has been hard to name. Practical and confidentiality arrangements are discussed before we begin.