I was also afflicted with traumatic memories and half-memories which I was struggling to make sense of.

Unlike previous therapists and counsellors whose help I had enlisted over the years, my sessions with Shireen provided me for the first time in my life with a space in which I could say absolutely anything I needed to, wanted to, or happened to.

I found that the space Shireen held for me really enabled me to begin a process of healing which had been long overdue. When I think back to the person I was during my life before psychoanalysis with her, I am astounded by the degree to which I was beholden to my suffering, especially anxious and obsessive thoughts, a total lack of a sense of agency and motivation, and the repetition, in my dreams, in my words, in my interpersonal relationships, of traumatic events from my childhood.

All of this sounds pretty deep and maybe if you’re reading this you’d think that my sessions with Shireen were heavy or emotionally cumbersome. This is most certainly not the case. Shireen’s energy is warm, light, welcoming, and therapeutic. The only way I can describe it is her ‘healing vibes’- I started to find that just as her practice allowed me to truly cry, to truly mourn, to speak the damaged and wounded parts of myself freely, it also allowed me to truly laugh, truly joke, truly dream and begin to speculate not simply about the suffering I had experienced, what had been done to me, but about what I WANTED, about what, and how, I desired, and how to dance with my desire rather than be ashamed or crushed or terrified by it.

This is all to say that I cannot recommend Shireen’s practice enough. Psychoanalysis is not a quick fix, and it is also not always so easy and fun- but Shireen had a shining capacity to lighten the load of my emotional suffering and to make the daunting prospect of healing and facing one’s demons actually enjoyable, actually freeing and explorative rather than onerous.

I think before I saw Shireen, the grip I had on my own life and experience of the world was deathly tight- I was holding on for dear life, muscles cramping, tears in my eyes, not much hope left..

Slowly but surely, with her, she showed me it was okay to relax my grip, that I would be safe if even only in the sessions with her, I let go. The tension in my body and mind could begin to ease- I was so afraid of falling, of free-falling into an abyss, but she was there, it was okay, I was safe (even if this feeling of safety at first felt very foreign to me, because of the life I had had.)

Only once I had practiced letting go in sessions, could I actually get a healthier hold on my life, a grip which did not cause me to cramp, and which I could relax when I wanted- free falling became falling in style, like Buzz Lightyear! haha!

Thank you from the depths of my heart Shireen- to infinity and beyond!”