Mark Anderson

I am a psychodynamic counsellor, qualified to Master of Science (MSc) level through a constituent training body of the University of London. As an adjunct to private practice, I teach first-year clinical trainees on the MSc psychotherapy course at Birkbeck in London. Also, I am currently studying for a Doctor of Clinical Practice (Res) PhD at the University of Exeter.

Having worked in NHS primary care, through a London-based GP practice, for several years, I have helped patients from many backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicities, religions, genders, and sexual orientations with the internal, and often, unconscious conflicts that have negatively impacted their emotional and mental well-being and that prevented them from living their everyday life to the fullest.

Though I still work in the NHS in an honorary capacity, offering counselling on a pro bono basis, I also run a private practice, based near Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. I work with adults in person and online across Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

I have an up-to-date enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate, which I am happy to provide if you wish. I have regular clinical supervision with a BAPPS certified psychotherapist, and I attend continuing professional development (CPD) courses to the required level.

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I currently have availability from Monday to Wednesday at various times between 8am to 8pm. If you need an earlier appointment, due to work or other commitments, please do ask as I may be able to accommodate.

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Psychodynamic counselling explores the capacity for a person’s unconscious to negatively impact conscious, everyday thoughts, emotions, and behaviour. What is understood, however, is that a person may not quite feel themselves, out of control, or that something indescribable is worrying them.

Together, we’ll focus on the inner conflict preventing you from functioning. Sometimes, conflictive thoughts and feelings are connected to the present, but more often than not, they have their origin in our childhood experiences, our attachments, and the things we have come to believe about ourselves.

For example, if you’ve ever severely procrastinated to the point that you get nothing done, you would be forgiven for thinking that you’re lazy, or unmotivated, or simply incapable of the task at hand. However, it has been long understood that procrastination can be a coping strategy against such things as the fear of failure, of rejection, and between the present self and the future self*. To break this punitive thinking, the psychodynamic approach is to explore the past and discover where those beliefs began.

By gently exploring and bringing repressed emotions, avoided thoughts and ideas, and repeated patterns of behaviour into the conscious, we can hopefully identify the ‘interference’ in your feeling and thinking. And then, what you would like to do about it, if anything. As a modality, psychodynamic counselling is non-directive, so my role is not to tell you what to do, but instead, I will try to help you feel more focused and in control of your emotional and mental well-being, understand how you relate to others and they to you, and so, allow you to make better choices.

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* Reference: Pychyl, T. & Sirois, F. M. (2016). Chapter 8. Procrastination, Emotion Regulation and Well-Being, pp.163-188. United Kingdom: Academic Press (Elsevier)