Our Way of Working
Amphora Psychotherapy exists to offer a depth-oriented, relational space where emotional suffering can be held, understood, and transformed over time - through the steady presence of a therapeutic relationship that makes experience more thinkable and life more livable.
Our work is grounded in a simple but deeply held belief: meaningful psychological change happens through careful listening, sustained relationship, and attention to what unfolds over time.
Our focus is not only on easing immediate distress, but on understanding the deeper emotional and relational patterns that shape how people suffer, cope, and change.
How We Understand Suffering
People come to therapy with many kinds of pain: anxiety, depression, chronic stress, physical illness, relationship conflict, or a sense of being stuck, disconnected, or overwhelmed. While these experiences may look different on the surface, they are often shaped by enduring emotional patterns and relational histories— ways of holding oneself and relating to others that once made sense, but may now feel constraining.
Rather than viewing these difficulties as isolated symptoms to be fixed, we understand them as meaningful responses to lived experience. They deserve curiosity, respect, and careful attention. Therapy offers a place to explore how these patterns formed, how they continue to operate, and how they might gradually change.
What Happens in Therapy Here
Therapy at Amphora is a collaborative process grounded in listening in depth. Sessions are a place to speak freely, to reflect, and to notice what emerges—not only in words, but in feelings, bodily responses, and relational moments between therapist and client.
We listen closely and engage actively. At times this means offering reflections, asking questions, or naming patterns as they appear. At other times it means slowing down, allowing uncertainty, and making room for what is not yet clear. The pace of the work is guided by what feels tolerable and meaningful, rather than by a preset agenda.
This way of working often includes attention to:
Current struggles and life circumstances
Repeating emotional or relational patterns
Early experiences and their ongoing influence
Unconscious processes that shape feelings and behavior
What unfolds within the therapeutic relationship itself
“Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”
bell hooks, “All About Love”
The Therapeutic Relationship as a Secure Base
We place particular importance on the therapeutic relationship. Research consistently shows that the quality of this relationship is one of the strongest predictors of meaningful change.
We aim to offer a relationship that is reliable, responsive, and genuine—one that can hold difficult feelings without rushing to resolve them. This steadiness is not passive. It is an active, engaged presence that allows experiences that once felt unmanageable to become thinkable and workable over time.
Within this secure base, new ways of relating to oneself and others can be discovered, tested, and gradually internalized.
What Kind of Change We Aim For
While many people experience relief early in therapy, our aim extends beyond symptom reduction alone. We work toward deeper and more enduring change: increased emotional freedom, greater self-understanding, and more flexible ways of meeting life’s challenges.
Over time, clients often describe feeling more grounded, less burdened by old patterns, and better able to live with complexity and uncertainty—without relying solely on endurance or self-control.
Who This Approach May be Helpful For
This approach tends to resonate with people and couples who:
Want to understand themselves more deeply, not just manage symptoms
Are willing to slow down and reflect, even when things feel unclear
Feel that previous solutions have not fully addressed what’s underneath
Value a collaborative, relational approach to therapy
At the same time, therapy is always tailored to the individual or couple in front of us. No two therapeutic processes look the same.
A Shared Commitment
Our way of working asks something of both therapist and client: honesty, patience, and a willingness to stay with what is difficult. In return, therapy offers the possibility of relief, insight, and meaningful change over time.
If you’re considering therapy and wondering whether this approach may be a good fit, we invite you to reach out and begin a conversation.