Robert Evans

What is psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is concerned with helping you understand yourself as a whole person. This includes holding in mind our strengths and our vulnerabilities. It also invites us to consider the impact of the past upon our present lives. For example, there may be times when we find ourselves repeating old or familiar patterns that no longer help and support us. Until we can see the influence of the past it can be difficult to know what changes we need to make in the present. Therapy therefore, is concerned with getting to the root of our difficulties and offers us a way of exploring our underlying problems and obstacles which may not be so readily accessible to our usual ways of thinking.

Our relationship to help

We spend our lives being helped in different ways, and yet we rarely consider our relationship to help, the need to be helped or our capacity to bear being helped. In order to be helped, we have to acknowledge that there is something that we can’t do for ourselves. Asking for help is therefore complex and raises concerns as well as fears about being helped. Acknowledging our need for help may be daunting and yet it could also open up new possibilities in our lives to consider.

What do I do in therapy?

Your therapy sessions are an invitation for you to speak as openly and freely as you can. This can actually be challenging as we tend to edit and censor much of what we think and feel. So try and say whatever comes to mind. Talking is at the heart of psychotherapy and the more open you are during your sessions the more you will come to know about yourself. The more you speak, the more you will start making connections and links in your life. This often takes time and so I would encourage anyone interested in beginning psychotherapy to be patient, results are rarely instant but over time gather momentum.

As time goes on you will experience all manner of thoughts and feelings towards your therapy and your therapist. It is important at this point to speak about this in your therapy sessions. Often these thoughts and feelings arise when we touch upon something deeper within ourselves. Of course, if you take an instant dislike to your therapist then I suggest that you seek out someone else. There may be times when it becomes a struggle to keep your appointments. Demands from work and family responsibilities may try and take you away from your therapy. These interruptions may seem unrelated to your therapy but often occur when we touch something difficult and challenging. Try and keep to each and every appointment, no matter what. 

What can I expect?

I can offer both online and in-person appointments. When we meet, you can tell me about yourself and what it is that has brought you here. You may have some questions that are on your mind about how I work. I usually suggest that we arrange three initial consultations to help us both decide upon whether working together will be useful. A desire to understand yourself better, and perhaps function better in the world may be sufficient motivation to engage in psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy can help address depression, anxiety, loss and grief, anger and rage, as well as family related issues. It can also be helpful in attending to trauma and self-destructive behaviour, self-harming and suicidal thoughts, as well as themes of meaning and transiency.

I offer short-term therapy as well as longer term treatment. Individual appointments cost £70 and last 50 minutes. I can offer some reductions to students and those on low income. Sessions are held at regular intervals, at least once weekly, and sometimes more often depending on your specific situation.