Paul Carslake - online counselling

Coronavirus...

We have suspended our face-to-face and outdoor sessions for obvious reasons, but our client work continues via online counselling platforms such as Skype and Zoom, and by phone where these are not practical.

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SOME THOUGHTS ON COUNSELLING...

Counselling is about helping people find ways of dealing with the difficult stuff that comes at us during our lives. Part of this involves trying to get a deep sense of where these difficulties come from. And another aspect is about observing how we feel, behave and react in response to certain situations, and asking whether it has to be like this, every time. Experience shows us that nothing in our lives is fixed forever. Our capacity for change is a constant surprise.

My approach
Empathy, warmth, and, sometimes, just a bit of gentle humour: these are three aspects which I feel characterise my approach to talking therapy. There is science behind this too. Most clinical evidence on the effectiveness of talking therapies shows that the relationship between therapist and client is the biggest single factor in bringing about change – whatever ‘brand’ of therapy is being used.

How to get started
If you drop me an email or text, we can fix up a brief phone call. This will be a chance for you to talk about what’s prompted you to seek counseling, and to ask me any questions you have, as well as seeing if we have availability that might work for us both. At the end of the call, there’s no obligation to take this any further.

The next stage is a free online (or phone) consultation By the end of this, we will have an idea of the focus of the work, roughly how many sessions we'll do, and the format – in person, by Skype or outdoor (which combines counselling with walking). You then have the option of signing up to regular weekly sessions.

More about my style of therapy
The therapy I offer falls broadly into the ‘psychodynamic’ category. This means we can think a bit about your past and explore how things might be getting repeated in the present. And it also means we can use aspects of the therapy room conversation to provide clues about patterns of relating in the world outside. If time is more limited, and we need to focus on just one specific aspect, then we use a slightly different brief therapy approach that looks more at the ‘now’, and rather less at the past.

How many sessions?
We agree this between the two of us. If you’re on a tight budget, we can have a focussed set of sessions (say just a half dozen or less) aimed at tackling just one specific issue.
However, the full benefit of talking therapy tends to play out over a longer time-frame. A set of 12 sessions, with the opportunity to renew, is a popular option.

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Registered to work with:
Adults

Areas of work:

Abuse, Anger management. Anxiety, Bereavement, Cultural issues, Depression, Family relationships, Health related issues, Identity issues, Life coaching, Loss, Personal development, Relationships, Redundancy, Retirement, Self-esteem, Self-harm, Sexuality, Sexual identity, Stress, Trauma, Work related issues.

Counselling available: (*some of these are currently suspended)
Short term, long term, single-session therapy, face-to-face*, Skype, telephone, outdoor*

Professional memberships:
Member: British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

Qualifications:

MSc (London) Psychodynamic Counselling & Psychotherapy

Cert. Higher Ed. Psychodynamic Counselling and Organisational Behaviour

BA (Hons) Philosophy, Politics & Economics

Publications:

Paul Carslake and Razwana Quadir (2019): Crash Course: Psychology
(UK: Ivy Press; USA: Metro Books)

Fees: (per 50-minute 'hour')
Phone and Skype sessions: £45

And fees for services currently suspended...

Therapy room sessions (City & West End): £75

Therapy room sessions (South West London - Balham, Clapham, Wandsworth): £65

Outdoor sessions: £50

Next step:

Drop me a text or email and we'll fix up a short phone call.

Contacts:

Phone: 07833 855037
Email: paul.carslake@gmail.com