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Recognising mental health issues and then finding a counsellor sometimes isn’t an easy process. With this in mind, my website is designed to provide an understandable overview of the world of psychotherapy and counselling to help you take the first step towards a life of positive mental health. Professional Psychotherapy and Counselling for adult individuals and couples across London and Bedfordshire Book an Initial Consultation Welcome Welcome to Lynn Somerfield Psychotherapy, providing therapy services across London and Bedfordshire. People seek support from a therapist for many different reasons. You may be struggling with anxiety or depression. Your relationship may be in trouble due to an affair, communication difficulties, or family stress. Perhaps you’ve experienced a bereavement or are coping with a serious illness. Maybe you struggle with OCD, and it’s affecting your relationships and work. Alternatively, you may be experiencing insomnia, panic attacks, or flashbacks related to a traumatic incident. You may have an eating disorder. Perhaps you find it difficult to form relationships with others. Perhaps you’re anxious in relationships, or too distant. Perhaps you have a problem with dependency on alcohol or drugs, maybe even an addiction. Believe it or not, none of these things is abnormal. They are the things that make us human! Recognising your own mental health issues and then finding a counsellor or psychotherapist is not always easy. I have designed this website with that in mind... On the following pages, you’ll find information to help you better understand psychotherapy, learn more about my background and training, and discover my approach to therapy. If there’s a topic I haven’t covered or you’d like to arrange an initial consultation, please contact me . I look forward to hearing from you. In her first book, psychotherapist Lynn Somerfield explores the subtle processes through which change begins to take root in our lives. Through reflection and insight, she considers how moments of awareness, courage, and compassion can gradually shape meaningful personal transformation Explore the Book Specialities As a transpersonal and integrative psychotherapist, I am able to support clients with a broad range of mental health worries. Below I have provided a summary of my primary specialist support areas. You can find more information by clicking through on the 'Learn More' buttons, or by simply contacting me . Abuse Issues Learn More Addiction or Dependency Learn More Anger Issues Learn More Anxiety Learn More Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Learn More Depression Learn More Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR) Learn More Grief & Bereavement Learn More Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Learn More Panic Attacks Learn More Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Learn More Relationships Learn More Stress Learn More The Chakras Learn More Reach For A Helping Hand Take your first step toward positive mental health Book an Initial Consultation

Recognising mental health issues and then finding a counsellor sometimes isn’t an easy process. With this in mind, my website is designed to provide an understandable overview of the world of psychotherapy and counselling to help you take the first step towards a life of positive mental health. Contact Me Contact Me There are a number of ways to contact me so please choose your preferred method from the options below and I will respond to you at my very earliest opportunity! Email My email address is lynn@lynnsomerfield.com Email Me Phone My mobile phone number is 07762 738 238 Call Me Location I tend to work at different locations throughout each week. I have a Central London clinic as well as a clinic in Lidlington, Bedfordshire . Contact Forms I have made a number of Contact Forms available on this page. Please select the one you require from the list below. Ask a Question Book an Initial Consultation Workshop Booking Ask a Question Ask me anything, but please keep in mind that my expertise will be best utilised if your questions are related to Psychotherapy and Counselling! First name* Last name* Email* Phone Your Question* I consent to you processing the information I provide (which may include health information) for the purpose of responding to my enquiry * Submit your Question Ask a Question Book an Initial Consultation The first step in any therapy journey is for us to meet for an initial consultation and get to know each other a little. At this first meeting, I will be asking you questions about the issues you’re struggling with right now and what you’re hoping to address in therapy. If you would like to book an initial consultation with me, please complete the form below. First name* Last name* Email* Phone Please describe what you would like help with...* I consent to you processing the information I provide (which may include health information) for the purpose of responding to my enquiry * Please subscribe me to future communications and offers. Your personal details will remain confidential and will never be shared with any party outside me therapy practice Submit your Request Book an Initial Consulation Workshop Booking Workshop Booking Please use the form below to book your place on one or more of my workshops. Once I receive your booking form, I will get in touch with you to confirm workshop dates and locations. First name* Last name* Email* Phone Which workshop(s) would you like to book (select all that apply)?* A Matter of Life and Death Addictions Balancing the Chakras CBT Made Easy Gestalt and the Dreambody Women and Weight Please indicate which type of workshop attendee you are?* Private Attendee Professional Attendee I understand that bookings cancelled within eight weeks of the workshop will be charged in full * Please subscribe me to future communications and offers. Your personal details will remain confidential and will never be shared with any party outside me therapy practice Submit your Booking

In her first book, psychotherapist Lynn Somerfield explores the subtle processes through which change begins to take root in our lives. Through reflection and insight, she considers how moments of awareness, courage, and compassion can gradually shape meaningful personal transformation. Buy at Routledge Buy at Amazon The Seeds of Change How Therapists Cultivate Personal Growth Because psychotherapy is confidential, its inner workings often remain a mystery to those considering it. The Seeds of Change: How Therapists Cultivate Personal Growth lifts the veil on the therapeutic process, demystifying approaches, highlighting the importance of tailoring therapy to the individual, and revealing how it can enhance well-being. Drawing on the author’s extensive experience as a psychotherapist, and enriched with case studies and practical exercises, the chapters explore key themes through the lens of the therapeutic journey: Alchemy as a metaphor for psychotherapy, illustrating how ancient processes reflect personal growth within therapy. The four elements as a dynamic model of change for those engaging in inner work. The importance of boundaries and balance—helping readers honour their own needs while fostering healthy relationships. Interpreting emotional and physical symptoms as meaningful messages. Uncovering the hidden attitudes that influence how we live, work, and relate. Exploring dreams as a powerful tool to understand the unconscious. Whether you're a mental health professional, a student of psychotherapy or counselling, a life coach, wellness practitioner, or someone committed to personal growth, this book offers the insight, tools, and inspiration to support your path.

Some symbols arrive quietly, like a feather found on a path. The peacock is not one of them. The peacock enters like an opera singer in full costume, having apparently missed the memo about humility. It does not sidle into the symbolic imagination. It fans itself open. It shimmers. It says, in no uncertain terms: look at me. And that, of course, is where the trouble begins. Because many of us are deeply uneasy about being seen. We are taught, often very early, not to show off, not to take up too much space, not to be “too much”. We learn to tuck our brightness away. We trim our colours to fit the room. We become experts in being acceptable, useful, and manageable. Then along comes the peacock, dragging behind it a fan of blue, green and gold, asking: What if your beauty was not a problem? At one level, the peacock is a symbol of display. It is associated with vanity, pride and self-importance. To “peacock” is to show oneself off, usually with a touch too much confidence and perhaps a jacket no one asked for. We all know that version. The inflated self. The person who cannot quite leave a room without making sure everyone has noticed their departure. But symbols are rarely so simple. The peacock also carries a deeper message about visibility. Its magnificent tail is not merely a decoration. It is a revelation. It shows what has been hidden. It fans out the inner world into colour and pattern. In dreams, myths and inner life, the peacock may appear when something in us is ready to be seen. Not the polished persona, not the performance, but the deeper radiance of the self. The part of us that has survived shame, comparison, criticism and the long, grey education in self-doubt. There is also something extraordinary about the “eyes” in the peacock’s feathers. They seem to look back at us. In symbolic language, eyes often suggest awareness, perception and consciousness. The peacock may therefore speak not only of being seen by others, but of seeing ourselves more fully. This is not always comfortable. To truly see ourselves is not simply to admire the attractive parts. It is to recognise the whole pattern. The beauty and the awkwardness. The longing to shine and the fear of being judged. The genuine gift and the temptation to use that gift for applause. The peacock asks us to notice where healthy self-expression ends, and performance begins. In this sense, it is a surprisingly useful therapeutic symbol. Many people arrive in therapy with their colours faded. They may not describe it that way, of course. They might say they feel flat, anxious, invisible, stuck, or strangely disconnected from themselves. But somewhere, often hidden beneath years of adaptation, there is a lost brightness—a way of moving, speaking, creating or loving that has been subdued for too long. The peacock reminds us that healing is not only about reducing distress. It is also about recovering vitality. There is an old spiritual association between the peacock and transformation. In some traditions, it is linked with immortality and renewal, partly because of the way its feathers are shed and regrown. Symbolically, this gives us another layer. The peacock does not merely dazzle. It renews its splendour. It knows how to lose and regrow. That feels important. Because the beauty we recover in later life is often not innocent. It is not the untouched brightness of childhood. It is something more weathered, more truthful. It has passed through grief, disappointment, embarrassment, ageing, loss and the occasional deeply unflattering photograph. It is not perfect. It is alive. And perhaps that is the real teaching of the peacock. Not vanity, but permission. Permission to unfold a little more.Permission to stop apologising for the colour in us.Permission to be visible without becoming inflated.Permission to recognise that modesty, when overdone, can become another hiding place. Of course, there is a balance. The peacock can warn us against empty display. It can ask where we are performing rather than expressing, seducing rather than relating, dazzling rather than connecting. But it can also challenge the opposing wound: the belief that we must remain small to be loved. So, if a peacock appears in a dream, an image, a sudden fascination, or even on a cushion you find yourself oddly drawn to in a shop, it may be worth asking: Where am I hiding my colours? Where am I afraid to be seen? What part of me longs to unfold? And where might I be confusing visibility with vanity? The peacock is a flamboyant teacher, admittedly. Not everyone’s preferred guide. Some of us might prefer a wise old owl or a discreet little robin. But symbols do not always arrive in the outfit we would choose for them. Sometimes the psyche sends a peacock. And when it does, it may invite us to stand a little more openly in our own lives. Not to strut, necessarily. Though on a good day, why not? But to remember that the soul, when allowed its full expression, is rarely beige. As I explore in The Seeds of Change: How Therapists Cultivate Personal Growth, healing often begins when something hidden finds a form: a word, an image, a gesture, a dream, a symbol. The peacock, with all its impossible colour and beauty, reminds us that what has been folded away may not be lost. It may simply be waiting for the right moment to open.

Photo by Curology on Unsplash The toilet may not be the most glamorous symbol in the gallery. It does not have the majesty of a tree, the mystery of a snake, or the poetic shimmer of a river. It is unlikely to appear on a greeting card alongside the words “follow your dreams”. And yet, symbolically, the toilet has a great deal to say. In dreams and the inner life, toilets often appear when something needs to be released. Something old, unwanted, toxic, embarrassing, private, or simply no longer useful. The toilet belongs to the part of life we prefer not to put on display, which is precisely why it can be such a powerful image. It may speak of the need to let go. Old shame. Old grief. Old resentment. Old stories. Other people’s expectations. Emotional material we have been carrying for far too long, possibly with the same determination we use when refusing to throw away a drawer full of cables that fit nothing we own. Toilets are also about privacy. We need a safe place to deal with what is most basic, bodily and human. So when toilets appear in dreams, especially if they are exposed, dirty, blocked, missing a door, or impossible to find, they may point to feelings of vulnerability, lack of boundaries, shame, or not having enough private space to process what is going on inside. In therapy, the toilet might invite us to wonder: What am I ready to release? What am I still holding onto? Where do I need more privacy, dignity or space? And what has become blocked because I have not been able to let something move through me? A blocked toilet is rarely subtle. Symbolically, it may suggest that something is backing up. Feelings, needs, anger, grief, fear, perhaps even words that have not been spoken. As with all symbols, the meaning is never fixed. For one person, a toilet may feel comic. For another, shameful. For another necessary cleansing, exposing, or oddly liberating. This theme of releasing what no longer serves us is also part of the deeper work explored in my book, The Seeds of Change: How Therapists Cultivate Personal Growth. So perhaps the question is not, what does the toilet mean? But: What am I ready to stop carrying? What needs to be flushed from my life? And where might I need a little more privacy, compassion and decent plumbing? @routledgebooks#TheSecretLanguageOfSymbols#TheSeedsOfChange#HowTherapistsCultivatePersonalGrowth#TranspersonalPsychotherapy#InnerLife#SymbolsAndMeaning

Photo by Sarah Penney on Unsplash The mirror is a tricky little object. At first glance, it seems to tell the truth. There we are, apparently: hair doing whatever it has decided to do, face slightly more tired than we had hoped, expression suggesting we may need either a holiday or a decent cup of tea. But symbolically, the mirror is rarely just about appearance. It is one of the great images of self-recognition. In fairy tales, myths, dreams and the inner life, the mirror may reveal what has been hidden. It may show us the face we present to the world, but also hint at the face beneath the face. The self we know. The self we avoid. The self we are becoming. A mirror can be reassuring, but it can also be unsettling. Most of us say we want self-knowledge until self-knowledge actually turns up, takes its coat off, and starts pointing things out. In therapy, the mirror may invite us to wonder: What am I ready to see? What am I avoiding? What image of myself have I mistaken for the whole truth? And what might be reflected back to me through my relationships, dreams, symptoms or longings? The mirror can also speak of projection. Sometimes what we see “out there” belongs partly “in here”. The irritating person, the admired person, the feared person, the envied person, may all be carrying something of our own unlived or disowned life. Annoying, but useful. A good mirror does not flatter us, nor does it shame us. It helps us look with honesty and compassion if we cooperate. That is often where healing begins. This movement towards deeper self-recognition is also at the heart of my book, The Seeds of Change: How Therapists Cultivate Personal Growth. As with all symbols, the mirror does not have one fixed meaning. For one person, it may suggest vanity. For another, truth. For another, reflection, illusion, intimacy, ageing, identity or the longing to be truly seen. So perhaps the question is not, what does the mirror mean? But: What is being reflected back to me? What do I find hard to look at? And what part of me is waiting to be seen with kinder eyes? @routledgebooks#TheSecretLanguageOfSymbols#TheSeedsOfChange#HowTherapistsCultivatePersonalGrowth#TranspersonalPsychotherapy#InnerLife#SymbolsAndMeaning