Back to Me: An 8-Week Individual Therapy Framework
For individuals who default to overfunctioning in their connections, doing everything for everyone else, feeling invisible, and losing themselves in the process.
It is exhausting to always be the person who holds everything together. You might find yourself constantly predicting everyone else's needs, managing their moods, and saying "yes" to requests even when you are already completely running on empty.
On the outside, you look reliable and capable. On the inside, you feel quietly resentful, invisible, and completely out of touch with your own desires because your energy is entirely directed outward.
Does This Sound Familiar?
You might recognise yourself in some of this:
You automatically take on the emotional weight of your relationships, feeling responsible for keeping the peace.
You find yourself constantly fixing other people's problems or organising their lives at the expense of your own time.
You say "yes" to family, friends, or partners when your body is quietly crying out for a break.
You feel like you have become completely invisible in your own life, hidden behind everyone else's demands.
You experience a lingering sense of resentment because you give so much but receive very little support in return.
You worry that if you step back or say "no," everything around you will completely fall apart.
If any of that sounds familiar, you are not failing, you are simply caught in an automatic habit of over functioning, and that dynamic can shift.
You Might Be Searching For Answers To Questions Like
Why am I so exhausted in my relationship?
Why do I feel angry at my partner but can't explain why?
Why does it feel like I do everything?
Why do I feel invisible in my relationship?
Why do I feel lonely even though I'm not alone?
Why do I feel responsible for everything, his moods, the atmosphere, what gets said?
Why can't I just relax, even when things are technically fine?
Am I in a relationship with a narcissist?
Why do I feel like I've lost myself?
These are not small questions, and they deserve more than a Google search.
Why This Works When Other Approaches Haven’t
Most conventional relationship advice focuses on trying to communicate better, changing your partner, or forcing yourself to just "act differently." When those approaches don't stick, it is easy to conclude that you simply lack the willpower, or need to try harder.
Nothing is wrong with your willpower, the approach just isn't going deep enough.
This individual therapy programme does not focus on changing the people around you, it focuses exclusively on your internal blueprint. Combining practical NLP and integrative therapeutic techniques, we work at multiple levels simultaneously. We examine the automatic patterns in your thinking, the unconscious beliefs embedded in your identity, and the early life experiences that taught you that your self worth is tied to how much you can carry for others.
Change at this level doesn't require force, it requires understanding. And once you have that, you can step back safely without abandoning yourself again.
What We Focus On Throughout the Framework
When your automatic habit is to put yourself last, having a clear, structured roadmap provides the focus and stability needed to shift that dynamic safely. Over eight weeks of dedicated one-to-one therapy, we slow down the overthinking and examine the hidden internal rules you are living by.
Uncover the Root of Overfunctioning: Understand the underlying survival habits or early life patterns that taught you that your worth is tied to how much you can fix, carry, or do for others.
Rebuild Personal Boundaries: Practice the internal steps required to say "no" cleanly, step back from carrying other people's emotional weight, and let them manage their own lives.
Challenge Identity-Level Beliefs: Reshape the deep, subconscious rules that tell you it is selfish to look after yourself, allowing you to show up authentically without guilt.
Quiet the Inner Critic: Disarm the persistent mental doubt and self-criticism that triggers every time you try to choose what is right for your own well-being.
How The 8 Weeks Are Structured
This is an intensive, deeply collaborative process that combines supportive individual therapy with active, structure-level mindset transformation.
Investment: £1200 for Northern Ireland clients and €1380 for Republic of Ireland
Format: Highly focused, private, individual sessions conducted online via Zoom, Whatsapp video call or in person. This offers total confidentiality and fits seamlessly around your busy working or family life. My Crossmaglen therapy space is just 4 minutes from north Monaghan and County Louth borders and a short drive from Castleblaney, Dundalk and Newry.
The Approach: As an integrative therapist and accredited Practitioner of NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming), I combine traditional therapeutic processing with practical, mind-body techniques. We meet weekly to trace the root of your blocks, clear the automatic habits holding you back, and integrate practical tools so you can move forward with genuine clarity.
Occasional Support Between Sessions: Real-world integration can sometimes bring unexpected hurdles. If you find yourself genuinely stuck or need brief guidance to follow through on a specific step between our appointments, you can send me an email or a text message. I will reply within 24 hours to help you navigate the block and keep moving forward.
Post-Programme Integration Session: Support does not end abruptly on week eight. After the framework concludes, we schedule a dedicated follow-up integration session to check in on your progress and fine-tune any minor issues that may have surfaced as you practice these new habits.
What My Clients Say
"Geraldine helped me to overcome the challenges I was facing after some big and negative life changes."
“Geraldine helped me to overcome the challenges I was facing after some big and negative life changes. I didn't know that my dreams were helping me find the answers. I thought they were just nightmares.”
— Online Client, Louth
Ready To Change The Dynamic?
You don’t have to keep running yourself into the ground or keeping quiet just to keep the peace. Let’s connect for a brief conversation to see if this structured 8-week framework is the right match for your goals.
This initial chat is a completely free, no-obligation conversation. It is a gentle, supportive space for you to ask questions, tell me a little bit about what you are currently experiencing, and see if I am the right therapist to help you create this deep, lasting life change.
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This is a no obligation gentle phone or video conversation designed purely to explore working together. You do not need to dive into your whole life story, I will simply ask what has been going on for you recently, explain how the framework handles those specific blocks, and give you a space to ask any questions you have about how I work. There is absolutely no pressure to book a full session afterward.
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That is completely normal and very common. You don’t need to have a clear diagnosis or a perfect explanation ready before you start. The entire purpose of the first few weeks of the framework is to act as a detective process. Together, we safely look behind the surface numbness or exhaustion to trace and uncover the unconscious patterns that are draining your energy.
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The 8-week framework is designed to fit cleanly into a busy lifestyle without overwhelming you. Outside of our weekly 1-hour session, there is no heavy "homework" or long essays to write. The integration happens naturally through small, simple awareness tools you practice during your normal day, like taking two minutes to notice an automatic habit or using a quick mindset technique when you feel your stress rising.
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Yes. Studies consistently show that online therapy is just as effective as sitting in a room together, but with several added benefits for busy individuals. It offers absolute privacy, eliminates travel stress along the border corridor, and allows you to process deep identity-level shifts from the safety and comfort of your own home environment. All sessions are conducted via confidential Zoom or Whatsapp video.
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Absolutely not, this therapy does not turn you into a cold, uncaring person. It actually helps you step back into who you truly authentically were before the stress and people-pleasing took over. Right now, you are giving from a place of exhaustion. Rebuilding your internal boundaries simply allows you to protect your energy, so that when you do choose to show up for others, you can do it out of genuine choice rather than automatic guilt.
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Over-functioning is an automatic coping mechanism where you take on the responsibility, organisation, and emotional weight for everyone around you. You know you are doing it if you constantly step in to fix situations before other people can fail, manage everyone else's schedules, or feel intensely anxious when things aren't done your way. Essentially, you are working twice as hard to manage life for the people in your circle, leaving them under-functioning while you run yourself completely into the ground.
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Being a caring person comes from a place of choice and abundance, you give because you want to, and you still have plenty of energy left for yourself. Over-giving comes from an unconscious pattern of automatic guilt or a deep-seated belief that your worth is tied to what you can do for others. You are over-giving when you say "yes" out of fear of conflict, carry the emotional load in your connections until you feel quietly resentful, or keep giving even when your body and mind are completely empty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take the First Step at Your Own Pace
Please don't worry about finding the perfect words or explaining your whole story right now. Just leave your details below, and I will get back to you within 24 hours to arrange our gentle, free consultation chat.
This initial chat is a completely free, no-obligation conversation. It is a quiet space for you to ask questions, tell me a little bit about what you are currently experiencing, and see if I am the right individual therapist for you. Let's take that first step together at a pace that feels completely comfortable for you.
Geraldine.