“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” – Rumi
I’m Gabi Machado, a psychotherapist in the person-centred approach. I was born and raised in London to Brazilian parents, and in addition to English I speak Portuguese and Spanish. I studied religion and spirituality and believe that the mind, body and soul are inextricably connected. This came into its fullest in my work as a birth doula, supporting women and their families in preparing for the birth of a child, and in witnessing the (re)birth of the mother. I currently support refugee and asylum seeking mothers with a UK based charity.
I first discovered psychotherapy in my early 20s in a crisis. I deeply cherished the time with my therapist as they accompanied me through and out of this crisis. Over the years since then I’ve sought therapy in calmer times to learn more about who I am and how to find freedom in that. With the support of my therapists I discovered new ways of paying attention to my emotions, my thoughts, my relationships, my social conditioning and my body. I learnt and re-learnt new ways of accepting and finding compassion for my self.
In my practice I aim to build a relationship built on safety, confidentiality, non-judgement, collaboration, care and curiosity. Within a person-centred framework, I seek to understand you wherever you are at. You are the expert of your own experiences and I believe that we are all geared towards health and healing – we are trying to do the best we can with what we’ve got. I hope you and I can work together to explore any issues as they arise. My practice is grounded in embodying principles such as loving presence, empathy, mindfulness and non-violence. Many of these principles stem from the person-centred approach and from Hakomi, a mindfulness-centred somatic psychotherapy. Hakomi (also described as assisted self-discovery) honours the role our bodies play in organising and storing our core beliefs and memories. With a background in music and education I know how enriching the creative process can be and I welcome all forms of creative expression within the therapeutic process.
I have experience working in a trauma-informed way with issues such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, gender, sexuality, spirituality, neurodivergence and perinatal issues. As a member of the BACP I adhere to their ethical framework.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.
