Online Therapy for Depression & Low Mood

Low mood and depression often have a physiological signature: a nervous system that's slipped into shutdown, a protective state of low energy, flatness and disconnection. When the system has decided it's safer to withdraw than to engage, motivation, pleasure and hope can all feel out of reach.

This shutdown isn't weakness or self-indulgence, however much it might feel that way. It's one of the nervous system's oldest forms of protection, a way of conserving energy and numbing pain when a situation has felt overwhelming or hopeless for too long. The body isn't failing you. It's doing the only thing it knows to keep you safe when carrying on has started to feel like too much.

The same principle that governs stress governs shutdown. The brain reads the present through the lens of the past, asking what a situation reminds it of and how you got through before. A system that has learned, often early in life, that effort goes unrewarded or that connection isn't safe, may default to withdrawal as the safest option, long after the original circumstances have passed.

Many of us also reached adulthood without ever being shown how to regulate difficult feelings, and low mood can be what happens when emotional material has been suppressed for a very long time. Understanding this matters, because it means depression isn't a fixed fact about you. It's a state, and states can change.

"Just snap out of it" is the least helpful thing anyone can say to a person in low mood, and the most common. It assumes depression is a choice or an attitude, something you could switch off if you only tried hard enough. But shutdown isn't a decision you're making, and it isn't something willpower can reach. The part of you that wants to feel better is the thinking mind, and shutdown lives a level below that, in the body and nervous system, where the thinking mind has very little direct control.

This is why pushing harder so often backfires. Forcing yourself to be positive, or piling on guilt for not coping, only signals to the body that things still aren't safe, which is exactly what keeps the system withdrawn. The way out isn't more effort. It's helping the nervous system feel safe enough to come back online on its own, which is something that happens gradually, and never by force.

So if you've been unable to simply lift yourself out of it, that isn't weakness or a lack of trying. It's the nature of the state you're in. And understanding that is often the first bit of relief, because it means the problem was never that you weren't trying hard enough.

When you're in shutdown, the usual advice to exercise more, socialise and think positive can feel impossible, and often makes things worse, because it asks for energy you simply don't have. The gentler truth is that the nervous system comes back online through small, low-demand signals of safety, not big efforts of will. So if everything feels like too much, that's not a failing. It's information about where to start.

A few things that can help, lightly and without pressure:

• A little natural daylight, especially earlier in the day, which supports the body's rhythms.
• Some gentle movement, even just a slow walk or a stretch, which tells the system it's safe to come out of stillness.
• Warmth, whether a hot drink, a bath or simply being somewhere comfortable.
• Small moments of contact with people who feel safe, because the nervous system settles fastest in the presence of another calm one, a process called co-regulation. Even a short message or a brief chat counts.

The aim isn't to fix anything or force yourself to feel better. It's to lower the bar right down and let one small thing be enough for now. These don't replace proper support, but they can make the next step feel a little more possible, and they're a good place to begin while you decide whether deeper work is right for you.

For organisations:

HR and wellbeing leads can fund and arrange therapy for a member of their team. The booking takes minutes, there's no invoicing or procurement to navigate, and sessions are private, confidential and completely independent of the employer.

For individuals:

Many modern organisations have wellbeing funding available, and your HR or wellbeing lead may be able to arrange confidential support, so it could be worth asking. But if you'd rather keep things entirely private, you can arrange sessions yourself, simply, directly, and at a reduced rate designed to make this work more accessible.

For organisations, Neuro-Somatic Therapy is available as a package of 10 one-to-one sessions for £1,000 (all inclusive, no VAT is payable), typically delivered weekly. At £100 per session, this is very competitive within the corporate therapy marketplace because your investment goes directly to the therapist providing the care, rather than to a platform or intermediary. Please note that many people will need more than 10 sessions, depending on the complexity, intensity and depth of their issues.

Payment is made securely by card at the point of booking, with no invoicing, purchase orders or procurement process to navigate. The corporate package is essentially a gift voucher for 10 sessions, which the employee then redeems themselves.

At the time of booking, please enter both your own email address and the employee's, so you both receive the order confirmation email. This contains your payment receipt and the employee's unique scheduling link, which they use to redeem and book their sessions privately, at times that suit them. When they click the link, they'll choose between Zoom (recommended) or Teams (if your organisation already uses it).

Notes:

• You may want to check my availability first (by clicking the Free Discovery Call button above) and discuss it with your employee to ensure suitable timeslots are available for them.
• If the employee would like the same timeslot each week, we recommend scheduling all sessions as soon as the confirmation email arrives.
• The 10 sessions must be used within 200 days of the order.
• Sessions can be rescheduled freely up to 24 hours before the appointment, so there's plenty of flexibility to work around a busy week.
• If a session is missed without at least 24 hours' notice, it's counted as used. This keeps things simple and fair, and it's the same policy for everyone.
• Please read our Policies & Disclaimers and Terms & Conditions for further details.

For individuals funding their own therapy, Neuro-Somatic Therapy is available as a package of 5 one-to-one sessions for £400 (no VAT is payable), typically taken weekly. This is a reduced rate, lower than the standard professional fee, because I want this work to be genuinely accessible to the people who need it, not only those whose employer can fund it.

It's worth being realistic about what therapy involves: this is deeper work, and lasting change usually unfolds over time. A package of 5 sessions is a meaningful start, enough to build safety, begin settling the nervous system, and get a real sense of the process, but most people find they want or need several packages to work through things more fully. You're under no obligation to continue; you simply book another package whenever you're ready.

Payment is made securely by card at the point of booking. You'll then receive a confirmation email containing your scheduling link, so you can book your sessions at times that suit you. When you click the link, you'll choose between Zoom (recommended) or Teams (if you already use it).

Notes:

• You may want to check my availability first (by clicking the Free Discovery Call button above) to ensure suitable timeslots are available for you.
• If you'd like a regular weekly timeslot, we recommend scheduling all your sessions as soon as the order confirmation email arrives.
• The 5 sessions must be used within 100 days of placing the order.
• Sessions can be rescheduled freely up to 24 hours before the appointment.
• If a session is missed without at least 24 hours' notice, it's counted as used. This keeps things simple and fair, and it's the same policy for everyone.
• Please read our Policies & Disclaimers and Terms & Conditions for further details.