Welcome to Samantha McEwan Psychotherapy -Trauma, anxiety and depression therapist. Kilmarnock and online.
Hi, and welcome, I'm Samantha, a warm and experienced trauma-informed psychotherapist, with practice underpinned by over 25 years clinically as a registered mental health nurse, coach and educator in the NHS.
As a mental health nurse I am skilled in the assessment and treatment of complex difficulties, and have specialist knowledge of the deeper biopsychosocial nuances that influence mental health, with extensive experience supporting people with complex trauma, depression, anxiety or emotional and relational difficulties. I have also led national improvement work over several years to educate on and improve trauma-informed, therapeutic practice in NHS inpatient mental health services to reduce harm, re-traumatisation and suicide.
With high standards for clinical and professional practice, I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and COSCA, and work to their ethical frameworks and codes of practice, as well as the NICE guidelines for treatment. I'm fully insured, have a clear PVG, and am registered with the ICO.
Many of the people who now come to me for therapy are highly caring, conscientious and put a lot of pressure on themselves to get things right whether personally or at work. They care about their impact on others, or hold themselves to high standards that they worry they don't meet.
Sometimes, that same care doesn't always extend to themselves, and difficulties such as anxiety, self-doubt or criticism, or the impact of past experiences can build up over time until it interferes with daily life, relationships or decisions, leads to repeating patterns, or affects how they think or feel about themselves.
I find that people's earlier life experiences are often important to their current lives. My clinical background means I naturally consider these, and the relationships, familial contexts, education or work dynamics, personal rules and standards that can affect beliefs about self, interactions, and mental and physical wellbeing over the years.
With my clinical background I also often work with complex issues- there is little I've not heard over the years, which has made me passionate about helping people feel heard, believed and empowered.
Reconnecting with your life and future
Often when difficult experiences affect our health and wellbeing we can lose our sense of agency, identity, self-worth, strengths, boundaries and purpose - therapy can help to foster reconnection with these.
I specialise in helping my clients deal with:
- Generalised anxiety, overwhelm, worry, intrusive thoughts, images or memories, and overthinking
- Self-doubt or self-criticism, feeling not good enough
- Depression and low mood
- Complex PTSD and impact of childhood relational trauma including sexual, psychological or physical abuse, neglect and unstable caregiving
- Traumatic experiences and PTSD in adulthood
- Relationship and communication difficulties
- Loss of personal identity, purpose and confidence
- Career issues, burnout or bullying at work
How I work
I offer a warm, active, direct and collaborative approach, I work with my clients at their own pace to understand and address the root causes of their difficultes and any repeating patterns - not just the surface symptoms -so that they can move forward with confidence, purpose, and renewed sense of self.
Treatment approach
I use evidence-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. These can help us identify beliefs about ourselves, and ways of thinking, feeling, acting and relating that might have helped before -for example to avoid shame or self-criticism - that no longer work, and can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion, to develop new ways forward.
I also use evidenced- based trauma therapy and emotional processing therapies. These include Imagery Rescripting and Reprocessing Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy, and elements of Internal Family Systems /'Parts' therapy and schema informed therapy. I am also shortly training in EMDR Therapy.
I always work with my clients at their own pace to understand and address the root causes of their difficultes and any repeating patterns - not just the surface symptoms.
In therapy we work together to:
- Identify what you'd like to be better or different, and how you'll know when you get there.
- Recognise what needs to change -this might mean letting go of or changing values, behaviours, relationship patterns or beliefs about yourself that are no longer helpful or are holding you back.
- Explore and process patterns, emotions and past experiences that may have created difficulties, helping you understand how they’ve shaped the way you see yourself and others.
- Take steps to develop, re-build and move forward - perhaps with more assertiveness and a deeper connection to your values, confidence, resilience and relationships.
"Samantha picks things up about my situation very quickly. She is so transparent and calming and gets to the heart of things."
Please do feel free to get in touch- I try respond to enquiries within one working day, via email. Or, If you'd like to book an initial call with me to discuss therapy you can also do this here Please also see my FAQ page for more information.
"I'm so thankful I connected with Samantha. She is professional, responsive and sensitive, while also knowledgeable and straightforward with me. The way she understands me has been a long-awaited breath of fresh air. She validates my emotions and experiences and works carefully with me to identify patterns and goals".
Benefit of therapy for my clients
It is always a real privilege to be alongside each of my clients on their journey. My clients have often fed back that they benefitted from my kind, active and direct approach in therapy, enabling them to get to the root of their difficulties and move forward with a clearer headspace and improved sense of self, identity and confidence.
