You might have always wondered what starting therapy is like or what to expect when you see a therapist for the first time. Here, I aim to alleviate some of the uncertainty by telling you a bit more about what you can expect from online therapy with me.

How do you know if you’re a people-pleaser?

Identifying if you are a people-pleaser involves reflecting on your thoughts, feelings and patterns of behaviour. Practice noticing how you tend to respond and feel in certain situations, and you will be able to recognise if you are consistently putting others' needs before your own and have become caught in an unhelpful people-pleasing trap. See if you can relate to these common signs:

For most of my life, I carried an inflated sense of responsibility for others and found myself trapped in a cycle of people-pleasing. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but it was as if my self-worth hinged on my ability to cater to everyone else’s needs and gain their approval. I was starting to feel resentful. I knew something had to change.

Often people-pleasing is seen as ‘nice’ and being about being kind and helpful when there’s much more to it than that! Here I discuss 5 common myths about people-pleasing and tell you more about what people-pleasing is.