Juliet McDonnell

Living the Questions

Counselling, Psychotherapy & Supervision

“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves... Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet.

I often return to this poem — for me it captures something of the essence of therapy. I’ve always been drawn to the deeper questions of life and what it means to be human. Therapy is not about having the answers — it’s about creating a space for dialogue, reflection, sensemaking and supported self-inquiry.

How I Work

The psychotherapy I offer provides space to explore the whole of your experience – your thoughts, feelings, body, relationships, and the world around you. I believe that therapy is not just about “fixing problems” but about creating a relationship where you can bring your questions, dilemmas and longings, and see what unfolds.

In our work together, we may explore how the past continues to shape the present, how you relate to others and to yourself, and how you make sense of your place in the world. Therapy offers a chance to slow down, notice the patterns you are caught in, and experiment with new ways of being.

My approach is integrative: rooted in existential and person-centred traditions, enriched by the creative use of imagery and the arts, embodied practices, and nature-based perspectives. Sometimes we will focus closely on the difficulties you are facing here and now. At other times, the work may open into larger questions of meaning, identity, and how to live fully in the face of uncertainty and change.

Therapy can support you in:

  • Working through anxiety, stress and overwhelm.

  • Navigating grief, loss and life transitions.

  • Exploring relationship challenges or patterns that feel hard to shift.

  • Finding confidence, purpose, and a sense of belonging if you have often felt “different” or outside the norm.

  • Reconnecting with creativity, vitality and hope.

Psychotherapy is not a quick fix but a process of discovery. Some clients choose to work with me for a short period, while others commit to longer-term work as they deepen their self-understanding and explore new possibilities. The journey is yours, and we will find the pace and focus that feels right for you.

If this approach resonates with you, I invite you to book a discovery session where we can talk about what brings you to therapy and whether working together feels like the right next step.

Ways we might work together

Existential and person-centred dialogue
Together we may explore the “big questions” of life: meaning, choice, freedom, belonging, love, loss, and mortality. The aim is not to find neat answers, but to deepen your capacity to live with the questions and make sense of your life as it unfolds.

Imagery and the arts
Images, metaphors and symbols can reveal dimensions of your experience that everyday language cannot. By attending to these, we can uncover fresh perspectives and bring hidden meanings into awareness.

Poetry and language
Sometimes a line of poetry can speak to a truth or dilemma more directly than explanation. We may use poetry – written by others or created together – as a way of naming and exploring human experience.

Embodied awareness
Existence is always lived through the body. By paying attention to breath, movement, or physical sensation, we can become more aware of how you carry your concerns, conflicts or longings, and how the body both limits and liberates us.

Nature and the wider world
Human life is always embedded in the natural and social world. We may draw on the cycles of nature – growth, decay, change, renewal – as a way of reflecting on your own life and relationships. At times, we may also work outdoors, walking and talking in dialogue with the world around us.

Juliet McDonnell

Counselling, Psychotherapy, Supervision

Online and in Person

07905 770340

enquiries@julietmcdonnell.co.uk

London SE1

Guildford

Psychotherapy

Existential Psychotherapy

Supervision

Walking Supervision

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