Alan Archibald

I offer online sessions via Zoom. I started working with people and there mental health because it is often overlooked. If overlooked I feel it can cause a huge amount of pain and challenges. I realised from a young age that the people I grew up with had suffered all sorts of trauma and that there stories unfolded in front of me as we got older. I was fortunate to avoid scars that were so deep but hoped to help those that were not so lucky.

Wether the challenges were through biological illness or through trauma I knew I had a passion to help people work through what they had been given and get the best life they could. I saw that the friends I grew up with didn't have the opportunities I did and became interested in what made the difference, what could be changed and what could be overcome. It amazes me every day the relisiance of people and the way in which they cope and move forward. I find myself proud to be part of the progress people make with me and hope that I can help you on your journey to where you want to be.

I have an interest in treating trauma particularly and this comes I think from my experiences growing up and the people I had the fortune to meet along the way. The ones that make the biggest difference in my life tended to be the ones that inspired hope that change can occur and things can get better. I hope to give this to you but also feel that it isn't a one way street. I am always amazed and given hope myself, even in the darkest of times with someone in therapy, that there starts and grows inside of them a light that gradually burns brighter until we see the sun rise again and the darkness fade.

I have a passion for the use of psychodynamic psychotherapy which focuses on relationships past and present. I am flexible, I think, and one of my strengths is the ability to know when to be flexible and when to stick to the therapy and have faith it will make a difference. I am human and although the therapy experience can feel a little one sided I can assure you that I have you in mind and hold what you bring with the respect, dignity and seriousness it deserves.

Although I do not bring a lot of myself in the sessions and I believe the sessions are about your needs not mine, I do allow some of my personality to come through and hope that you will feel safe and secure when we work together towards the future you want not nessessarily the one you might feel you have been given.

I have a particular interest in infant loss and have completed training around this with the infant loss foundation including rainbow baby training.

I worked for 24 years in the NHS as a health professional. Eight of those years as a Psychotherapist within the NHS and now 4 years in Private Practice. I trained at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.