Paula
Straube
Therapy
Private Practice, in-person and online. Special focus on working with gender, sexual, and relationship diversity (GSRD), especially queer identities, including work with neurodivergent clients and with couples, throuples, polycules or anyone embarking on non-normative relationship forms
Qualifications
I am a psychotherapist with a COSCA diploma in Counselling using Transactional Analysis.
Qualified Memberships
I am a member of UKATA and EATA, and adhere to their codes of ethics.
Contact
mobile
+44 (0) 78 601 588 10
email
mail@paulastraube.com
Address for in-person sessions
Physis Scotland
22 Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh
EH3 7RN
Fee
£75 / 50-minute individual sessions
£100 / 60-minute sessions for couples, throuples and polycules (therapeutic systems)
Thanks for taking the time to consider whether you might wish to work with me.
About me and my approach to psychotherapy
We all live in a world that is often complex to navigate, personally and societally. It is full of challenges that place pressure on our identity and our relationships. It is natural for this to make us feel anxious, angry, depressed, alienated, hostile, withdrawn or numb. These are very human responses and simply mean we have experiences, thoughts and feelings.
Coping mechanisms, although often unhelpful later in life, usually had a very important purpose at one time. This is often one of the reasons why someone seeks psychotherapy in the first place.
If we agree to work together, I would invite you into an exploration of your story, so that we can understand what has shaped your life and what makes you uniquely you. Psychotherapy offers a safe space and a valuable connection in which new meanings and ways of thinking can emerge, fostering greater flexibility. Ultimately, it can be a place to make sense of your experiences, learn new skills, and transform or let go of what no longer serves you.
I work at each client’s pace. Any change, big or small, no matter how important or constructive, is also always a loss. It involves letting go of something that has been significant in order to reach this point. That loss can feel sad and frightening, or even like disloyalty to yourself or others. I am here to support you in this.
I offer long-term or short-term work, according to each person’s needs.
I am a Transactional Analysis psychotherapist and I feel very rooted within this framework.
Transactional Analysis has simple yet profound philosophical principles, which I hold very dearly:
People are OK
I truly believe we are all OK at our most fundamental level. We may have disruptive thoughts and behaviours towards others or towards ourselves, but the core of our being is OK. This implies that each of us is a valuable person in our own right, and we are all as important as each other. I therefore strive for equality in therapeutic relationships and for shared responsibility to find out who a client or a system is and what they want and need.
Meaning Making
Each of us can think about our experiences in a unique and beautiful way. Everyone has the capacity to discover what truly matters to them and how to account for it. My role is to support people and systems on this journey of exploration, while trusting that you alone can decide where to go and which path to take.
Change is possible
We all adopt beliefs and make decisions along the way that, over time, become outdated, but they are by themselves a testimony to our creativity. How we live our life in the present can be based on old decisions, and sometimes those decisions aren’t helpful any more. As we embark on this exploration, we forge the ability to make new decisions that serve us better in the here and now and help us live in ways that are more true to us.
A meaningful therapeutic relationship has the potential to enhance all other relationships in life. At times, this journey might feel difficult when revisiting vulnerable places, but ultimately, I am convinced that psychotherapy can help you to feel better, even if it gets worse at first. I accompany people and systems on this journey while offering an environment that is warm, compassionate and where they can feel held.
I am curious for us to find out together who you are in the world, how you came to be this person and where you want to go.
Most of my experience as a psychotherapist has been in working with gender, sexual, and relationship diversity (GSRD), especially queer identities, including work with neurodivergent clients and with couples, throuples, polycules or anyone embarking on non-normative relationship forms. I can help you work specifically on experiences relating to sexuality and gender, and the psychotherapy I offer is consequently LGBTQIA+ informed and affirmative. I welcome clients and systems of all races, genders, sexual orientations and relationship styles, including all forms of consensual non-monogamy.
I look forward to meeting you if you think this process might be helpful to you.
