Meeting for Therapy

My working hours are 8am and 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, and from 1pm to 6pm on Fridays. I can occasionally provide evening sessions in exceptional circumstances.
Your first session is an initial assessment. At the end of this session, we will usually agree on your therapy goals, the approach we can use to achieve these, and a rough estimate of how many sessions will be needed.

What To Expect

Unlike other forms of psychotherapy, meeting with a psychologist is "change focused", meaning that we will look for the areas of your life where you feel most stuck and agree on things you would like to change. We then use evidence-based therapy models to understand the problems you are experiencing and to find strategies to address them. This will mainly involve talking, but there may also be homework tasks, practising techniques in-session, or sometimes going out into the community together to try things out.

Therapy sessions are 60 minutes in length and usually take place on a weekly basis, though some people prefer fortnightly sessions. The duration of therapy is usually between 12 and 24 sessions, but this varies depending on the problems you are experiencing and the goals we set. This is regularly reviewed over the course of our work and we may agree that more or fewer sessions are needed. If you are seeing me through your insurer, they may have already authorised a set number of sessions, but we do not have to use all of these sessions, and can request additional funding for further sessions if required.

Initial Consultation

I understand that you have to feel that there is a "good fit" between you and your therapist, so I offer a free telephone consultation before starting therapy. This is a brief call to briefly discuss your needs, to answer any questions you may have, and to arrange a time to meet. Although I may ask for a brief overview of your problems to check that I am the right person to help you, I recognise that discussing these things over the phone can be daunting. You do not have to go into detail on this call if you would prefer not to, as we can spend more time exploring the problems when we first meet.

Where does therapy take place?

Face to Face Sessions

Therapy room at Lordswood, Medway, Kent, UK

Face-to-face therapy usually takes place at Lordswood Healthy Living Centre. This is a conveniently located, modern building. It is close to Junctions 3 and 4 of the M2 and with ample parking. The building is wheelchair accessible and has good public transport links (bus route 166).

If there is a clear clinical justification, then a home visit can be arranged. However, it is usually preferable to have therapy in a neutral space.

Remote Sessions

Although face-to-face therapy is generally considered to be the most effective medium, I also offer video or telephone sessions, which can give you additional flexibility.

I use encrypted and password-protected video conferencing software to ensure confidentiality in our sessions