Embrace the feeling that has arisen within you. The feeling that has brought you here, the one that quietly whispers “I am ready to begin the journey towards change”

““Life as a therapist is a life of service in which we daily transcend our personal wishes and turn our gaze toward the needs and growth of the other. We take pleasure not only in the growth of our patient but also in the ripple effect—the salutary influence our patients have upon those whom they touch in life.”
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— Irvin D. Yalom, The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients

Hello, my name is Charlie McDonald and I am qualified integrative psychotherapist based in Belfast. I am a trauma focused therapist with a particular interest in childhood trauma and related mental health issues that accompany this experience. I am fascinated by the neuroscience perspective on trauma. I have my Certificate in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma Themes which is heavily focused on the using knowledge of the brain and the body to work with trauma in a way that does no re-traumatise clients. My

My passion is my work, I love being a therapist. The opportunity to spend my life deeply engaging in the authenticity of what it is to be human, feeds my soul. My clients come many different walks of life and have a variety of issues that they want to work on.

What I have found in my years of experience is that fundamentally we have to understand the experiences in life that have shaped us into person we are. The family we grew up, the external culture and the systems that govern our lives. You are a product of your genetics, experiences and upbringing. You are not broken but you might be exhausted by the mask required to move around the world each day. The stories that we tell to ourselves about ourselves can be our greatest undoing. The shame and pain that is contained in those stories can be suffocating. In therapy I offer a non-judgemental and compassionate space to begin untangling and understanding the roots of these feelings. I care deeply about helping my clients to find their way towards stability.

I am passionate about helping my clients see who they really are on the inside. Helping them to understand potentially faulty core beliefs and establishing new ones that support a healthy inner world. I truly believe we are all capable of change if we are able to find the right support to guide us. I am here to hold space for you to find your own voice through curiosity.  

Choosing a therapist can be in itself an overwhelming process yet it is so important to find someone who can truly hear, hold and empathise with your experiences. I invite you to reach out to me and book a free 20 min consultation to see if we can work together. I look forward to meeting with you.

 

Who Do I Work With ?

I work with people who are seeking to change how they feel.

What I hope is becoming apparent in our society today is that attending therapy does not equal being in crisis. Therapy can be a place of curiosity and enquiry as a way of avoiding crisis point. In Northern Ireland we a long turbulent history of conflict which has had a long term impact on our populations mental health. Several studies have produced figures that show that we are living through a mental health crisis. Coupled with the Coronavirus pandemic that we are slowly recovering from, it makes sense that people are becoming increasingly connected to how they feel.

At this present time my specialities lie in working with clients who are struggling with the issues outlined below. This list is not exhaustive but rather than list the many different issues that may enter into the therapeutic space I wanted to share some overarching themes that I work with.

  • When working with anxiety we will begin to explore your triggers. We will also explore your life experiences. This may be a recent event that has happened or it may be something more historical. My approach to working with anxiety will involve us working with the body. Bringing attention to how your body is feeling. We will incorporate breathwork and grounding to help you find a safe place to work from

  • Low self-esteem affects every area of our lives. How we feel about ourselves influences how we inhabit the world around it. It affects our relationships, our work life but mostly and perhaps most painfully how we view ourselves. In therapy we will work to understand the different core beliefs that you hold within you. Our aim is to learn why you believe these things about yourself and begin the process of changing them.

  • Being a part of a family system can provide support, care and a sense of belonging. Yet we can also feel impacted by how the system operates as a whole. The core beliefs of our parents, grandparents and siblings can have a significant impact on how we evolve as a person. In therapy we explore the experience of being in our family of origin. Most clients immediately panic when we begin this journey, fearing that they need to assign blame to their parent. Instead this is about exploring YOUR experience of growing up in the family and the impact that this may have had on how you show up in the world.