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Joanna Stephens: Gestalt Psychotherapy & Trauma Resolution

You know something has to change.

Psychotherapy for Sensitive People

Stop being divided, lost & blocked.

Come home to yourself.

Being sensitive does not mean you have to suffer.

Access your deep potential for happiness, connection & personal wisdom.

People feel at ease & are able to connect with me straight away. 20 years of specializing in emotions & trauma in sensitive people, have taught me the tools necessary to help you to accept yourself. I use a variety therapy modalities ranging from NLP, Eye Movement Therapy, Somatic Healing & Healing, Meditative techniques. My therapeutical practice is anchored in Gestalt Therapy®.

  • 1:1 Sessions

    Arles, Aix-en-Provence & Online. Ongoing therapy. Working closely together, for clarity, emotional release & practicing long term installed solutions. 45min to 1h

    or

    One off intense solutioning, lasting 1.5 to 2 hours.

  • Sensitivity Workshops

    Be part of the experience in a group.

    You will learn the silent sharing circle, touch connection and support for digesting your emotions and so much more.

  • Planning & Manifesting

    Planning & manifesting your sensitive soul’s delight.

Holistic therapy that takes the whole person in to account. 

About Me

I am a psychotherapist trained in Gestalt Therapy, with a background in academic psychology and integrative psychotherapy.

I work with adults and adolescents who are experiencing emotional distress, inner overwhelm, loss of direction, or recurring relational and behavioural patterns that create suffering. My aim is to support meaningful, lasting change while respecting each person’s pace and individuality.

My approach is relational, experiential, and body-oriented. It is designed for people seeking serious, in-depth psychotherapy within a safe and engaged therapeutic relationship.

How I Work

Gestalt Therapy is an integrative approach that combines psychological understanding with present-moment awareness and embodied experience.

Depending on your needs, sessions may include:

• Therapeutic Dialogue

Exploring your lived experience in the here and now, while making sense of past and present dynamics.

• Emotional and Body Awareness

Learning to recognize, tolerate, and regulate emotions through awareness of bodily sensations and internal states.

• Experiential Methods

Role-play, dialogues between different parts of the self, and creative or symbolic exploration that allow new perspectives and integration.

• Processing Difficult Experiences

I am trained in System Reinet eye-movement therapy, an approach derived from EMDR, which can help reduce the emotional intensity of certain past experiences and support integration.

• Resource-Oriented Work

Strengthening internal supports, resilience, and adaptive capacities — not only analysing problems, but developing new possibilities.

When appropriate, elements from hypnotherapy, NLP, or body-based approaches may be integrated, always within a coherent psychotherapeutic framework.

The Therapeutic Framework

Therapy focuses on reducing psychological pain and inner suffering.

It unfolds through regular, warm, and trust-based conversations, creating a secure space where difficult experiences can be explored and integrated. Sessions are available in person or online.

Together we work to:

  • Understand and regulate emotional experience

  • Recognize how one’s view of self and the world can maintain suffering

  • Release emotional and bodily tension linked to past experiences

  • Develop a more stable and spacious inner life

This work is informed by mindfulness-based and contemplative approaches, which support a more grounded and compassionate relationship with one’s inner experience.

Goals of Therapy

Over time, therapy helps you to:

  • Identify repetitive patterns that generate distress

  • Gain freedom from emotional and relational automatisms

  • Make more conscious, aligned choices

  • Cultivate greater inner clarity, stability, and peace

Therapy may be short-term, focused on a specific issue, or part of a longer, in-depth process lasting two to three years.

My Therapeutic Stance

Beyond methods and techniques, I bring clinical presence, attuned listening, and embodied awareness to the therapeutic relationship.

I support you in:

  • Deepening self-understanding

  • Reconnecting with bodily and emotional experience

  • Finding a stable inner centre

  • Acting from inner clarity rather than mental confusion or self-judgment

Therapy becomes a space to move from inner conflict toward greater coherence, aliveness, and alignment with who you are.

Training

My professional background includes:

  • BSc in Psychology, Coventry University (UK)

  • Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy, RCH Conseils, Aix-en-Provence

  • Gestalt Therapy Training, École Parisienne de Gestalt (MP2 and advanced cycle)

  • System Reinet Diploma – Eye-Movement Therapy derived from EMDR

I have also completed additional training in trauma work, emotional regulation, and body-oriented therapeutic approaches.

In Summary

My work helps you to:

✔ Understand and transform patterns that create suffering
✔ Regulate emotional experience and restore stability
✔ Reconnect with inner resources
✔ Build a more grounded and authentic way of being

A depth-oriented psychotherapy, professionally grounded and open to mindful awareness, always guided by respect for your rhythm and integrity.

Claire Maurel Van Rijswick

 

Joanna is a unique therapist. I was lucky enough to work with and the results were spectacular.

I had previously worked with another psychologist for two years who helped me to understand my problems. But after two years I was still suffering and I still couldn’t get out of a negative situation which was making me unhappy. Joanna focused on my emotions & not just what i was saying about the situation. This angle of work shook up my way of seeing my problems & made it possible for me to move forwards incredibly fast. The blockages and negative emotions were dealt with head on & I could get rid of them.

Joanna is like a “surgeon”, who will target the problem & treat it immediately. This can initially be disturbing, but she is so caring I let go & let her lead me through the process.

Her perceptiveness & many years of experience give her incomparable professional know-how & I would like to thank her for her attention, her help & kindness throughout our sessions.

Nicolette Reichl

Joanna has changed the trajectory of my life. I feel so very very grateful to her. Joanna has an uncanny ability to sense what is really going on when I feel I cannot find the words. I still have a ways to go in my personal work, but I can see the big picture. I have started a business since my work with Joanna began - I feel motivated and capable and very hopeful.

I really loved that I didn’t feel diagnosed. I didnt feel like I was judged. I felt like I was accepted from the very moment of meeting her.

I recommend Joanna wholeheartedly. She has an extraordinary gift & I feel you do yourself an enormous favor by choosing her as your therapist.