Hi, I’m Jamie

If you are reading this, you might be looking for some help. In order to understand whether I am a good fit for you, let me tell you about my counselling practice.

My training in the ‘integrative’ diploma programme at Metanoia Institute in London informs my work. ‘Integrative’ refers to the idea that I am able to integrate different styles of therapy into my approach with a given client. So, rather than practice from just one theoretical base, I use a broad range of psychological ideas to meet the needs and individual humanity of each client.

Despite working from wide-ranging theory, I am really interested in psychodynamic thinking (which is the idea that our pasts can often have an influence on how we are in the present). Our way of being in the world is influenced by the experiences that we have at the hands of our primary caregivers and these early experiences become an internalised blueprint which shapes our sense of self throughout later life and can reverberate down through later years. This does not mean that the sum of therapy has to focus on these caregivers, but it often gives us a good starting point.

Finally, I believe that therapy exists as a space to try to do things differently. A therapist-client relationship can support a client to find different ways of relating and I believe that one of the key aims of therapy is also to take risks, to go somewhere different and make an attempt to expand our ‘relational range’. While clients will often seek therapy in a moment of need around a particular issue, I believe it has the ability to expand beyond these initial needs and into something that helps us find meaning, live richer and more fulfilling lives.

Relationship is Key

It is in relationships that challenges can often originate for individuals. It therefore follows that new forms of relationship, like the one I seek to create with my clients, can be the best vehicle for these parts to be repaired.

The relationship that forms between therapist and client is totally unique and is a key focus of my work. Like all healthy relationships, this means that therapy can involve challenging conversations that explore difficult subjects and the pain associated with them, but can also offer laughter, light and hope.

I am particularly interested in using this relationship to help individuals make meaning out of their worlds and how this can be integrated into other relationships they hold, and their day to day lives in general.

My History

I have spent a considerable amount of my life, both as a child and adult, living in different parts of the world, an experience that has shaped my approach as a Counsellor. It has given me a curiosity about the breadth of perspectives with which we can view the human condition and ways we choose to live; be they cultural, ideological or social. I am interested in how we use these different perspectives to help find our own, unique, individual sense of ourselves.

I have spent two decades working in the commercial and charity sectors and have had my own (ever evolving) journey with finding meaning and purpose in my work and life more broadly. In my experience, therapy can offer us a place to dare to think about these existential questions, which we so often do not have time for in the day to day.