Long-term Psychotherapy in London and Online Across the UK
Long-term psychotherapy is a supportive process designed to address enduring difficulties, unresolved wounds, and complex trauma. Unlike brief interventions, long-term psychotherapy allows you the space and time to explore your experiences in depth, working steadily towards greater emotional wellbeing and lasting transformation. Whether you are facing chronic illness, ongoing anxiety, or significant life transitions, long-term psychotherapy offers an opportunity to resolve root causes and cultivate resilience.
I offer long term psychotherapy in person in central London and online by Zoom to clients anywhere in the UK.
What is long-term psychotherapy?
Long-term psychotherapy is depth work. It is designed for enduring difficulties, unresolved wounds and complex trauma, where a short course of counselling might steady things without changing them. The extra time allows us to explore your experience properly and work towards change that lasts.
There is no fixed end date. We agree how we are working, then review it together as we go. Many people come to this work wanting lasting healing from something long standing. Others arrive with a quieter sense that there must be something more from life than this.
What happens during a session
We begin with your concerns and your history. I listen, respond, and follow the emotional charge as it moves, so that the core patterns can come into view rather than being described from a distance.
My approach is holistic, so the work is not talking alone. As things deepen, and only if it feels right for you, I may suggest an embodied intervention. Depending on what fits, that might be:
- tapping on acupressure points
- holding memory centres on the body
- working with intentional phrases
Alongside this we build internal resources, including an internalised safe space you can return to. That is what makes it possible to go near difficult material safely. Nothing happens without your agreement, and you set the pace throughout.
Online sessions follow the same structure. The exercises are ones you carry out on your own body, so they translate to Zoom without losing anything.
What long-term psychotherapy can help with
Clients come to me for support with:
- trauma, including PTSD, complex PTSD and developmental trauma
- chronic illness that has not responded to medical treatment, including ME and CFS, autoimmune conditions and cancer
- persistent anxiety, depression and low mood
- relationship difficulties, including sexuality, LGBTQI+ concerns and divorce
- eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder
- bereavement, grief and major life change
- transpersonal and existential questions, including spiritual counselling and the search for meaning
- transgenerational patterns carried down a family
Most of these sit deeper than a short course of counselling can reach, which is why many people arrive here having tried something briefer first. Whatever your situation, you are welcome to get in touch.
How I work
I am an integrative counsellor and psychotherapist, which means I do not apply one method to every person. I draw on psychodynamic, humanistic, relational and somatic approaches, and shape the work around you rather than the other way round.
I have also trained in progressive and emerging methods, including energy psychotherapy and other trauma informed interventions, and I am a certified Advanced Integrative Therapy (AIT) practitioner. I am a registered member of BACP and work to their ethical framework, with regular supervision behind everything I do. You are welcome to compare my approach on BACP, Counselling Directory and AIT UK Europe.
How it differs from short-term counselling
Short-term counselling works well when there is one clear difficulty to focus on and a defined number of sessions to do it in. It can settle a crisis, ease a decision or help you through a specific event.
Long-term psychotherapy goes underneath that. We work with the pattern rather than the episode, which takes longer and asks more of you, and tends to change how you relate to yourself rather than only how you cope. If you are not sure which you need, we can work that out together at the start.
Working with me in London or anywhere in the UK
In person sessions are held in central London at 50 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1, with further rooms at Clapham Junction and Surbiton. Online sessions by Zoom are available UK wide.
Consistency matters more in this work than in any other. A regular time each week, in a place that is easy to get to, is part of what makes depth possible. If travelling across London every week would be a strain, working online removes that as an obstacle without changing what we do.
Arrange a free consultation
Long-term therapy is a commitment, so it is worth talking it over first. I offer a free 10 minute telephone consultation with no obligation. It is a chance to describe what is going on and ask whether this approach is likely to suit you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does long-term psychotherapy last?
There is no set length. The work is open-ended and we review it together as we go along. Some people work with me for several months, others for several year.
You will need to give a months notice before ending. This benefits us both. I can offer a viable operation. You are held safely within a therapeutic context. We have time to work towards an ending because endings bring up significant issues.
Do I have to commit to a fixed number of sessions?
No. What matters is regularity rather than a number agreed in advance. We meet at the same time each week and keep reviewing whether the work is doing what you need it to do. You will need to give at least a month’s notice before ending.
Is long-term therapy just talking?
It can be but usefully it is more holistic. Talking is the ground we work on, but my approach is holistic and combines breathing exercises, body-based techniques, and energy techniques. This combination is often what allows something you already understand intellectually to finally shift.
Do you work with Complex Trauma and dissociation?
Yes. I work with Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), developmental and attachment trauma, and dissociative disorders including Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) and Dissociative identity disorder (DID). This takes time. I can offer you a steady, supportive frame, to give you the stability you need from which to explore your past.
Can I start with short-term counselling and move to long-term work?
Yes, and many people do. Some arrive for something specific and find that new issues surface once they start.
Does it work as well online as in person?
Yes. The relationship works well over video. Any breathing exercises and embodied exercises are ones you carry out for yourself, so online works very well too. I work with clients across the UK via Zoom.
Do I need to believe in energy for this to work?
No. Scepticism is welcome and common. I am not working with a particular ideology. I invite you to try the exercises and see what happens. What matters is your willingness to try the exercises and notice what happens.
Where are you based?
In person sessions are held in central London, near Westminster Bridge Road, SE1, with further rooms at Clapham Junction, SW11 and Surbiton, KT6. Online sessions are available anywhere in the UK.