We all have a story

Is Your Story Working For You?

Everyone has a story, our worlds are shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, but not everyone is conscious of their inner stories and the impact they have on their life. Research shows half of the stories we hold within are old programming from our past and no longer true in our present, yet we build our life on the premise they are…Until you start getting curious about your inner stories, you will be living life from the backseat rather than the driving seat.

I have always been drawn to stories, I began my career within the storytelling world of dance. Storytelling, movement and the body are my passion, and after over a decade as a choreographer crafting stories through movement, I dove deep into learning about the autonomic nervous system, it’s role in how we perceive our environment and later training in somatic practice. This moved the needle for me, inspiring me to qualify as an Integrative psychotherapist, where I could blend everything I’d learnt and loved into what became Chantal Francis Therapy.

I find it a privilege discovering and collaborating on the bespoke map to personal agency that each individual I work with creates for themselves.

Let's Work Together

The average person spends around £450 a year on self-help, wouldn’t it make more sense to seek qualified support instead and implement real change?

Practice principles

Integrating cognitive, emotional, physiological, and social aspects to provide a more complete understanding of you as an individual.

Maximising Well-Being

Client-Centered Care

Holistic Approach

Psychotherapy that responds effectively to you and your unique needs. No two human experiences are the same.

Supporting you to take an active role in the therapeutic process, whilst fostering a sense of agency in yourself, your relationships and life.

Qualifications, training and experience

I am a Level 7 qualified Integrative psychotherapist MBACP

I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and I work within the BACP's professional framework.

My additional training and qualifications include:

Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP).
Somatic Therapy practitioner.
Certification in Purpose coaching.
Therapeutic movement practitioner.

In addition to my private practice, I have worked across a variety of settings with a range of issues including Anxiety and Depression, Work related stress and Burn out, Bereavement and loss, Abuse, Low Self-esteem, relationship issues, parenting struggles, chronic illness, pain management and postnatal depression .

white ceramic mug beside silver macbook on table

Work With Me

Therapeutic modalities

The theoretical models and approaches I offer serve as frameworks to provide different perspectives in support of each client's individual journey.

ACT- Acceptance Commitment therapy

ACT is a talking therapy which helps you develop psychological flexibility, meaning you learn how to recognise the role your emotions play in your life, but you no longer become a prisoner to them. It reduces emotional overwhelm, increases mental clarity, reduces symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, and helps you move beyond difficult experiences in a meaningful way so that you can still meet your goals and set new ones aligned with your values. It can be helpful for overcoming procrastination.

Somatic Practice

‘Soma’ means ‘body’. Somatic practices are body-based therapeutic practices that help connect you to what’s going on in your body and become present to its sensations. The techniques I use include using your breath and movement to support self-regulation. Learning about the relationship between your body and brain and how the 2 are in constant dialogue through your autonomic nervous system, enables you to change your mental state through changing your physiological state.

Person-Centred

Person-centred therapy is exactly that- it is customised to create a therapy experience bespoke to your personal situation and needs, where you get to explore and reflect on what has shaped you as a person. It serves as an ideal base to add further modalities as frameworks for developing self-awareness.

IFS- Internal family Systems

Your environment, thoughts, mood and behaviour are all interlinked. When you experience any situation, good or bad, it leads to beliefs being formed and emotions being generated. You then operate physiologically based on that programming, even once the original situation is long gone and no longer true in your present. IFS is a form of ‘Parts work Therapy’ which helps you identify those unconscious ‘parts’ of yourself still operating from a place in the past and playing out emotional and behavioural patterns that are limiting you in your present and making life hard for you. Once you update and integrate those ‘parts’, you can respond to each moment with the fresh consciousness of your present self, rather than reacting from old subconscious self-protective defences.

CAT- Cognitive Analytical therapy

CAT is a talking therapy that looks at relationship patterns and how your early life experiences influence how you relate to others now as an adult, and how you treat yourself. It identifies the emotional and behavioural patterns you are carrying and whether they are helping or hindering you in life. It is a perfect companion to Somatic work and IFS in helping you update past programming held within your mind and body that is limiting your quality of life, and supports you to create more fulfilling connection with yourself and the people around you.

Your brain can form first impressions in under a second and these impressions can quickly solidify into beliefs held on a cellular level, meaning you hold stories in your body and not just your mind.

The power of your inner stories can either advance you or keep you stuck, which will you choose?

Let's Talk

Learning to witness ourselves through the lens of compassion, enables us to recognise the humanness in all parts of us. It allows us to attend to our process with deeper acceptance and understanding.

Self-compassion is key to self-acceptance.

Self-acceptance is a pre-requisite to personal growth.

Find out more about why cultivating self-compassion is key if you want to create change in your life.

Self-compassion

"Sessions with Chantal gave me a reference to what feeling grounded felt like for myself, something I’d never really had a sense of. I’m in a very different place now mentally and physically and am able to enjoy life on a whole new level."

Client experience