“I Keep My Feelings Close. Can Therapy Still Work for Me?”

I love this question. There’s something tender about it. And for someone who may have learned to keep their inner world very private, it makes sense that you’d wonder if therapy can meet you where you are.

The truth is, many adults keep their feelings close, long before they ever step into a therapy space. It’s an old, wise strategy. A way of staying protected in a world that hasn’t always been welcoming of the truest, most honest version of yourself. Sharing can feel strange. Risky. So we keep our cards close to our chest.

If this sounds like you, you’re far from alone. Difficulty expressing feelings in therapy is incredibly common. Many people wonder, “How can therapy help if I don’t talk much?” Hollywood often depicts therapy as jumping into the deep end with a stranger. But really, trust takes time. And your therapist needs to earn it before any kind of opening becomes possible.

The therapy space I offer honours slowness. It doesn’t pry. It welcomes a conversation at your pace.
It’s built for adults who:

• struggle to open up in therapy

• keep emotions private

• feel unsure how to express what they’re feeling

• want a gentle therapy approach

Brainspotting is one tool I use that requires no talking at all. It helps you access what’s hard to put into words.
And AEDP therapy offers another doorway — following the small spark of feeling that’s already there, even if it’s quiet.

And still, the question rises:
Can therapy work for someone who doesn’t open up easily?

I’d say yes, and gently. Sometimes this is the therapy: moving from guardedness → to feeling more at ease in conversations and more steadiness in your relationships.

You’re human. You don’t need to arrive ready to share everything if that’s not your style. You don’t even need to know what to say.
You can simply come willing.

And together, we can take it from there.