Zoë is a London-based therapist, mental health consultant, speaker and author with a decade's experience working with mental health.
Zoë consults for businesses, including global brands and private equity companies, to help make looking after your mental health and building emotional resilience accessible and acceptable to all. She also leads a therapeutic department at Central London
wellbeing center Until.
Her private practice offers support for a range of emotional and psychological topics including addiction, eating disorders, trauma, anxiety and relationship issues, through a dynamic, holistic and integrative, person-centered approach. Her speaking events offer the opportunity to open up the conversation around more challenging topics related to wellbeing – you can view her speakers profile here.
Zoë is a registered and accredited member of the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy).
Her first paperback, 'Your Mental Health Workout - A 5 Week Programme to a Healthier, Happier Mind'
is now available to buy in all good bookstores
(and as a digital copy or audio book!).
You can find Zoë on Instagram @zoeastondotcom
Zoë works with some of the world's best-known fitness and wellness brands to incorporate mental health into their overall approach. Over the past 4 years this has Included lululemon, Barrys, Reebok, Headspace, JP Morgan, Microsoft and many more. Her work includes building psychological themes into classes and workouts, as well as support and education for personal trainers, brands and corporate teams.
Her speaking events offer a range of health, wellbeing, education and teamwork topics tailored to suit you.
To book Zoë for your event, please click here to contact Alice Saunders at the Soho Agency.
Zoë works closely with her clients over extended periods of time to ensure that emotional wellbeing gets the focus it deserves.
Zoë has been successfully helping individuals to work through issues such as addictions, trauma and eating disorders since 2011. She is also experienced in working with people who struggle with attachment issues, anxiety disorders, body image issues and those who simply want to improve the quality of their overall wellbeing.
Having trained in, and experienced a number of different therapy models, Zoë's approach is holistic and integrative. This means she will first assess you and follow up with appropriate interventions based on your unique therapeutic needs.
She is currently holding her online clinic on Mondays and her in person clinic on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. All in person sessions take place at Until where Zoë also heads up the therapeutic community.
She accepts referrals from all major insurance providers (Aviva, AXA, Vitality and Cigna).
Addiction, left untreated, is a life threatening issue that can take its form in drugs, alcohol, work, gambling, screens, self-harm, food and exercise to name a few. You may find that you are repeatedly prioritising your drug of choice over previously important aspects of your life. You may be repeatedly attempting to change how you may feel and suffer emotional or physical withdrawal. When you stop, you might struggle to stay stopped or in control for any extended length of time. Fear and shame, cloaked in denial, often accompanies an addiction so if you suspect you might need help...find it now.
Many issues around mental health develop as a way to cope with trauma, or something that you found overwhelming and did not have the resources to deal with at the time. This includes but is not limited to, emotional neglect and abuse, living with a mentally unwell or addicted family member, bullying, sexual abuse, bereavement, abandonment, rejection, enmeshment (when someone uses another to help themselves feel better), physical abuse, witnessing abuse of another. The list goes on. Developmental trauma might also present as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), difficulty getting into or out of relationships, over or under reactions as well as anxiety, depression. Recovery from trauma is challenging but, with support very possible.
Eating Disorders come in the form of Anorexia, Bulimia, Overeating/Binge Eating disorder and Orthorexia.
Anorexia - is the refusal to maintain a normal body weight. Anorexics might appear underweight and struggle with eating and drinking.
Bulimia - is a binge and purge cycle, how this manifests varies form person to person. Bulimics can purge through vomiting, laxatives, exercising, starving, restricting and self harming. Bulimics can be any weight depending on their compulsive behaviours.
Overeating/Binge Eating Disorder - is the compulsive need to overeat. Be this through actively bingeing, feeling the need to snack throughout the day or night or overeating at or after meal times. Overeaters might present as overweight.
Orthorexia - is an obsession with healthy eating. As an Orthorexic you can present as someone who is looking after their diet really well, however your need to control what you eat is causing you distinct pain and distress.
You may experience one, two, three or all of these manifestations of an eating disorder. Whatever your experience you may find yourself lying about what you've eaten, when and where. You may feel like you are living in 'borrowed body' and have a highly distorted sense of self and body image.
Codependence is usually the result of developmental trauma or a family of origin experience that was unhelpful in some way. In order to protect our selves from being hurt again we create adapted parts of ourselves which allow us to look 'sorted' and feel 'in control' but actually move us further away from our authentic self - resulting in internal conflict and emotional pain. Codependents frequently present as either too dependent or anti-dependent. They experience a desperate need to be liked, loved and accepted demonstrated through people pleasing and dominant or submissive compulsive helping. Their self esteem depends on it. Codependents might have a sense of deep rooted resentment but have trouble expressing themselves honestly. Recovery from codependence involves self esteem work and boundary setting in order to develop a sense of self without the need to control others.
Anxiety is made up of a number of different factors and often people need help and support to work through anxiety. The word anxiety means something specific to you. No-one's anxious response is the same as the next. It is a word that tells us you are not OK. You might need to 'unpack' your anxiety and start to understand your triggers. How to cope more effectively. Or you might need support while you go through a particularly stressful life event. Anxiety comes in all shapes and sizes so therapy around anxiety needs to be bespoke to you are your personal experience.
Grief doesn't just happen when you lose a loved one or there's a death in the family or there's a breakup of a relationship. It happens every time you get disappointed. It happens every time you lose something. It happens every time an expectation isn't met. It happens every time someone says no. So quite often in life we are moved into a process of grief without realising. Whether you have experienced a major loss or are struggling with something not going your way, psychotherapy can be a helpful form of support as you process what is going on.
Body Image is something that is formed in your mind, based on thoughts and feelings you have about yourself and then unconsciously projected on to your physical body. It is different to your body reality.
Struggling with a negative body image can be destabilising and it is far more to do with your emotions that what your body actually looks like. Therapy can help you understand the disturbance and help realign your body image with your body reality.
Love addiction can manifest in obsession around another person, place or thing. You will seek out intensity in an attempt to create intimacy and connection. Love Avoidance shows up as a difficulty getting into relationships. Fearing intimacy you may create intensity elsewhere to protect yourself from getting hurt. You fear vulnerability. Neither needs to have a sexual element although this is often a product of becoming love addicted/avoidant. It can occur in romantic relationships, friendships, teaching situations and colleagues. A pre-occupation or a compulsive need to avoid a person, place or thing is usually the main symptom. You may also feel constantly worried that you will be rejected, abandoned or depended on. You may also feel a desperate need to find out information and display stalking like behaviours. The pain and shame that comes with Love Addiction and avoidance often results in feelings of anxiety, depression and use of external substance to avoid difficult feelings.
'Zoe was onboarded as a short-term UK mental health expert for Headspace. We selected her due to our shared mission of improving the health and happiness of the world. She was a pleasure to work with, often going above and beyond, and we look forward to partnering with her again in the near future.'
'Working with Zoe was an amazing experience. Her work is wise, challenging and always with a sense of humour. I have recommended Zoe and the @zoeastondotcom page to so many people.'
'Zoe’s work has inspired emotional wellbeing in places other than the therapy room, something much needed in casts and teams across the country. She makes therapy easy to access and benefit from.'
"I worked with Zoe for 6 months, prior to which I had always been quite sceptical about whether I would benefit from therapy . During that time she helped me to get to know myself, understand myself, and be kinder to myself.”
“After 6 months with Zoë I was able to turn a life-long hurtful relationship with my mother, into a well-functioning loving one by setting functional boundaries. I am also equipped with Zoë’s tools to maintain a life as a functional responsible adult.”
'I am so grateful to you for all the guidance and support you have given my daughter. She is now equipped to establish a bit of independence and you have played such a valuable role in this important stage of her life and it has made all the difference.'