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Will Roberts

Integrative Arts Psychotherapist
MA (IATE), UKCP, HCPC, BAAT

My Approach

I am an Integrative Psychotherapist with ten years' experience working with clients from diverse backgrounds and settings. This has included the NHS, charity sector and private practice. I have a passion for helping people with their mental health struggles, providing an empathic presence for clients to feel safe to share thoughts and feelings.

 

With experience running a counselling service in Central London, I now focus on a busy private practice. I am also a trained supervisor and teach and supporting trainee psychotherapy students at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education, affiliated with UEL. Prior to training as a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor, I worked as a musician and creative with experience in education and the performing arts.

 

On offer in my practice is a safe and confidential space for the exploration of feelings and thoughts. Everyone is unique and has their own way of engaging with this process. In the therapy sessions, I draw on a range of theory and resources, including Gestalt, Psychodynamic and Transactional Analysis approaches. It is my belief that through engaging with therapy one can achieve a better understanding of self, feel more fulfilled and make the most of life.


I have helped people suffering from severe anxiety and depression, grief and bereavement, addictive behaviours, past trauma, relationship issues including abuse, family and work stresses, physical illness and people with complex mental health diagnoses.

 

 

The initial session will be an opportunity for us to see if this therapy will be a good fit for you. It is an opportunity for you to ask further questions and for me to get to get to know you a little, to give a sense of how the therapy will be able to help you. In the meeting we will begin to explore the areas that could be the focus of the therapy, perhaps establishing some potential goals to the treatment.

 

Some clients wish to engage in 'open ended' long term psychotherapy; while others prefer to engage in a shorter course of therapy between 6 and 24 weeks. It is ok if you are not sure of the length of the therapy you would like. This is something we can discuss in the consultation.

 

In addition to talking therapy, at hand are other modes of creative and artistic expression. This can provide further and useful insight, resonance and self-understanding. Often this will involve drawing or painting a picture to express a thought or feeling. Other times it could be listening to music, looking at postcard images or engaging with imagination exercises. It's not about being a creative person or being 'good at art', more about exploring creative expression of thoughts and feelings. I find that clients engage with this side of the therapy in their own terms - some choose to make this a central part of their experience whereas others favour the talking therapy approach as the focus of the treatment.

 

If you are interested in booking a consultation please get in touch. It can feel daunting to try a new treatment and therapist; it is important to find someone with whom you can feel comfortable. The consultation is a chance for us to get a sense of whether we can work together and there is no obligation to continue. If you email me with your details, we could arrange a chat over the phone if it will help and take it from there. If you are interested do get in touch!



What happens in therapy?

Sessions can take any number of directions depending on what you may want to bring. A rough structure for many sessions could take the form of a 'beginning', 'middle' and 'end'.

 

The beginning may be space for you to share what's going on or some aspect you would like to focus on; the middle where these are explored (potentially though not always including some creative process); followed by the ending which could be reflection, recap or grounding before leaving.

 

It's fine to arrive to therapy without knowing what you want to talk about as this can emerge in the session itself.

 

 

path l;eads over a grey skied moor