Second Spring Therapy
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR WOMEN IN MIDLIFE
Perimenopause and menopause are a change: a genuine evolution, physical and mental. If you’re here, you know that already.
A second spring is an opportunity to open up and explore that evolution. Even if we greet this change with genuine curiosity, there is often turmoil simmering underneath. New emotions, discomfort, loss, and pressures at home or at work, all adding up to a version of you that isn’t always recognisable.
I’ve worked with women for twenty-five years, including as a CBT therapist in the NHS. Medical advice, HRT and exercise help look after your body. I work with your mind: to understand what is shifting, and how to meet it with acceptance and compassion rather than sheer endurance.
"Menopause is inevitable; suffering is optional"
Midlife Transitions
THERAPY FOR ANXIETY, STRESS, TRAUMA AND LOW SELF-ESTEEM IN MIDLIFE
Most women who find their way here have done their reading (or podcasts) and can name their “symptoms”. You may already have had the HRT conversation with your doctor and feel like an authority on the science of hormones.
What no one hands you a leaflet for is the inside of it. Waking at 3am with feelings you can’t name. Snapping at people you love. Reading the same email three times. A feeling that your sense of self has shifted without telling you.
Sometimes there is a gap between the outward appearance, as we hold “it” together, and how we feel inside. That gap can be uncomfortable, even lonely: the distance between how steady we look and how steady we feel, sharpest when other people are leaning on us.
Therapy is not about coping better so you can keep carrying everyone else. It is for you: understanding your own patterns and fears, becoming more attuned to what is actually happening, and fostering acceptance and compassion at a stage when both are most challenged.
Sometimes what surfaces is burnout meeting a body in transition. Sometimes midlife stirs deeper sediment. Either way, it can be understood, and it deserves better than “that’s just menopause”.
Second Spring offers evidence-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, informed by mindfulness and lifestyle medicine. Structured, practical and goals based, not vague reassurance.
Second Spring Therapy offers evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), informed by mindfulness and lifestyle medicine, for women who want to understand what's changing and meet it with greater acceptance, self-compassion and knowledge. My work is grounded in research and delivered in a collaborative, realistic, and practical way.
Making Sense of How You Are Feeling
Therapy for women experiencing anxiety, stress, trauma, and low self-esteem
Many women come to therapy because they are struggling to understand what they are feeling and the effect it is having on their lives. They may wonder whether something is wrong with them, blame themselves for not coping better, or feel ashamed that they have not been able to work things out on their own. Reaching out for support can feel vulnerable and, at times, frightening.
For some, these struggles are linked to stress, burnout, or life changes. For others, they reflect the impact of past trauma or distressing experiences that continue to shape how they feel, cope, and relate to themselves, others, and the world. Low self-esteem and deeply held beliefs - such as not feeling good enough, lovable, or worthy - can also play a powerful role.
This may show up as anxiety, low mood, self-doubt, poor sleep, irritability, feeling on edge, or a lingering sense of not quite feeling like yourself.
Biological
Psychological
Social
Lifestyle
"Menopause is the beginning of a new, powerful chapter.”
A Whole Person Approach: Meet Suné
I’m Suné: a CBT psychotherapist with twenty-five years of working with women, trained and tested in the NHS, now in private practice from Cape Town. I see clients online in the UK, and online or in person in South Africa.
My training spans Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and Nutritional Therapy. I take your mind seriously without pretending it lives apart from your body and your life. I’m BABCP-accredited and work to UK standards wherever my clients are.
I’m also a woman in my fifties. I know this territory from the inside, and I keep doing my own work, supervision and personal therapy included, because I won’t ask a client to do what I won’t.
Fees
Individual therapy sessions are £90 per session (50 minutes).
Sessions
Sessions are 50 minutes, collaborative and goal-focused: we work out what’s going on and build practical ways to respond, in the room and in your life between sessions.
Most people start with a block of six, then we review honestly. CBT is usually short-term. I’d rather finish well than keep you longer than you need.
Discovery call
A short, free call to:
Say what you’re looking for support with
Ask anything about therapy and how I work
Decide, with no obligation, whether it’s a fit
This is an opening conversation, and a chance to ask any questions.
Scope of practice
I offer private CBT for women with mild to moderate anxiety, stress, low mood, low self-esteem, and the difficulties that come with midlife, perimenopause and menopause. The work is grounded in evidence-based CBT and informed by MBCT, which combines cognitive therapy with mindfulness to change your relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings.
I trained and worked as a CBT therapist in the NHS and practise as a BABCP-accredited therapist, with regular supervision, ongoing professional development, and a trauma-informed approach. I’m also qualified in Nutritional Therapy and Lifestyle medicine; although my practice is psychological therapy, that wider knowledge informs the work.
If your needs fall outside what I can properly offer, I’ll say so and help you find the right support.
When this service may not be suitable
Private CBT through Second Spring may not be right for individuals who:
Are experiencing active thoughts of suicide or self-harm
Require crisis support
Have psychosis
Have bipolar disorder
Require specialist personality disorder services
Require secondary mental health care
In these situations, public or specialist services are usually the safest support.
For urgent help in the UK:
Your GP
NHS 111
Samaritans (116 123)
Your local NHS Talking Therapies service
Emergency services (999) if you are in immediate danger
For urgent help in South Africa:
Your doctor
SADAG (South African Depression and Anxiety Group): 0800 567 567
Emergency services (10111, or 112 from a mobile) if you are in immediate danger
Cancellation policy
Please give at least 48 hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule. Sessions cancelled with less notice are charged in full.
“Like seasons, we change, and in that change, we discover new ways of being.”
FAQ
What is CBT, and how is it different from other therapies?
An evidence-based therapy that looks at how thoughts, behaviour and emotion interact, and how to shift the patterns keeping you stuck. More structured than most: you’ll always know what we’re working on and why. Structured but flexible; there’s plenty of room to explore.
Where are you based? Does online therapy work?
Cape Town, which sits one to two hours ahead of the UK, so sessions fit a British day at a civilised hour. Online CBT has a strong evidence base; I trained in the NHS, I’m BABCP-accredited, and I work to UK standards. Distance changes the geography, not the work.
Can I do two therapies at once?
Generally not advisable, as it tends to muddy both. If you’re in therapy elsewhere, we can talk it through on the call.
Do you work with men or other age groups?
My practice is for women in midlife and menopause. In some cases I’ll work with others by referral or request, including young people aged 17 and over.
Do I need to practise mindfulness?
No. It’s woven through my training and informs the way I work, the language I may use and show up to clients. Some clients find it useful and would like to deepen their own practice; others prefer CBT alone. Both are fine.
Do you offer one-to-one mindfulness sessions?
Where it helps, mindfulness is part of therapy. I also run Second Spring Mindfulness, a weekly practice group for women in midlife.
Professional Memberships & Insurance
BABCP
Balens insurance
Oxford Mindfulness Foundation