Talk · Heal · Become
We are so much more than our problems, though there are times when that is all we can see. Therapy is a brave space we make, where you can meet yourself more honestly, without pretence and without shame.
The first fifteen-minute call is free, and there is no obligation either way.
Book a free 15-minute callBook a session
Reasons people get in touch
Most people arrive with something particular in mind. Depression and anxiety are the two most common, and they often arrive together. Others come about a relationship, or a transition that has left them unsteady, or an older trauma that has never been put down.
And sometimes it is not one particular thing, just a sense that life could be better, or a need to say out loud how it feels to be you.
You do not need to have worked out what it is before you come. That is what a first session is for.
If you have never done this before, what to expect the first time. And if you are a man who has spent a long time not talking about any of it, there is a page on that too.
Psychosynthesis
Much of what brings people to therapy is the gap between the life they are living and the one they feel they ought to be living. The unlived life. The best life. The life you should be having by now. These sound like goals but they behave like abstracts, and mostly what they give us is something to fall short of.
The alternative is smaller and harder. Live the life you are actually living. Not to the full, and not even love the life you live, because those imply more, or not enough, or later, rather than here, now, what is. This life, as we are, now. Ours, not the one we thought we should want.
Nietzsche held that one should experiment on all truth not simply in the laboratory but in one’s own experience; every truth should be faced with the question, “Can one live it?”
Rollo May, Existence, p29
Wholeness is to live what is. Acceptance of ourselves, rather than the ideal we are trying to match, is what makes change possible.
We are both Being and Becoming in the same breath.
Diana Whitmore, Psychosynthesis Counselling in Action
Beginning and what to expect
Free, informal and confidential, and it lasts fifteen minutes. There is no commitment on either side, just a chance to explore the potential of working together, have basic questions answered and share any concerns you may have.
The call is an option, not a step. If you would rather just try a session, book one directly and make a start.
Fifty minutes, in person or online, a relaxed conversation. Understanding what has brought you to therapy: the underlying feelings, overwhelming thoughts or patterns causing distress. Beginning to tell your story, your hopes or fears, at your own pace and in confidence. By the end, hopefully, a sense of connection. If this is your first time, what to expect.
Psychosynthesis is a broad, open and hopeful system of therapy, where true self exists beyond the conflicts, dilemmas and behaviours that sap the joy out of life. I incorporate humanistic and integrative psychology, working in creative and soulful ways to suit your needs best, within a safe ethical framework. More on psychosynthesis.
How long therapy takes depends on each person: background, needs, budget, consistency, willingness. I can work short term or long term, with an initial commitment of six sessions normally advised. That is not something to judge in advance. We would get a clearer sense once we have met.
About Alex
I am a psychosynthesis counsellor, working in Farringdon, Streatham and online. I spent years in the arts before I trained, and I have forty years of putting Buddhist humanism into action.
I have sat in both chairs. I have been the client as well as the therapist, and I have not forgotten what the first of those is like.
Postgraduate Diploma in Psychosynthesis Counselling, awarded by the Psychosynthesis Trust on a course accredited by the BACP and the UKCP. Registered member of the BACP, no. 411804. DBS certified and in regular supervision.
“An incredibly warm, empathetic and thought-provoking therapist. Alex’s approach to therapy is incredibly refreshing, and he has made a marked difference to my mental health journey. I highly recommend his services. If you’re hesitant about starting therapy, I’d encourage you to book a session with him - I’m confident it will put any doubts you may have at ease.”
Where we meet
The main practice, eight minutes from the station, close to Clerkenwell and Chancery Lane.
Tuesdays, 9am to 3pm. Studio 31, Hideaway Work Space, for South London.
By Zoom, from anywhere in the UK or abroad. A confidential space and a stable connection are all that is needed.
Sessions are fifty minutes, £70, usually weekly. The first fifteen-minute call is free, and there is no obligation either way.
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