My name is Samantha McEwan. I am a BACP registered psychotherapist and mental health nurse, providing psychological therapy in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. 

Over 25 years of core profession experience as a registered mental health nurse has underpinned and enhanced my psychotherapy practice with a framework for high standards of ethical, clinical and professional practice

It has given me a deeper understanding of mental health conditions and their impact, and a higher degree of expertise and sensitivity in working with people who experience mild through to highly complex mental health difficulties. I also consider physical health and the effects of medication.

I help my clients work through a wide range of difficulties affecting their mental health and wellbeing in their personal, relational or working lives such as:

• social or generalised anxiety and panic
• depression
• low self-esteem and confidence
• overthinking and rumination
• poor emotion regulation 
• chronic physical illness
• attachment and relationship issues
• binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa 
• childhood trauma such as neglect or abuse 
• chronic or complex trauma and PTSD/ cPTSD
• career difficulties, workplace stress, bullying or burnout

Clients experience a supportive, compassionate, and trauma-informed approach based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, from the perspective of understanding and working with the impact of early or adult life experiences on wellbeing, identity and relationships. 

Additional therapies I integrate depending on individual client needs are: 

• ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• CFT- Compassion Focused Therapy
• DBT- Dialectical Behavioural Therapy skills, 
• Mindfulness Based CBT (adapted for trauma)
• Trauma therapy using systemic, somatic and cognitive processing approaches, and attachment focused therapy
• Schema informed therapy

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 you to foster reconnection with these. 

In therapy we will work together to:

• Identify what you'd like to be better or different
• Recognise what needs to change -this might mean letting go of or re-focusing values, behaviours, relationship patterns or beliefs about yourself that are no longer helpful 
• Explore and process emotions and past experiences that may have created difficulties
• Take steps to develop, re-build and move forward with renewed sense of self, wellbeing, meaning and purpose