Counsellors in London

Counselling and psychotherapy in London range from independent practitioners working from a single room to small practices that combine several therapies, in person and online. Many people look for a therapist whose training, approach and way of working suit their circumstances, whether they are facing a specific difficulty or simply want a space to talk.

This selection presents three London counselling and psychotherapy practices: Adina Comorasu Psychotherapy, Rumena Pervin and The Trauma Practice.

Adina Comorasu Psychotherapy offers counselling and psychotherapy in Hampstead, North West London, as well as online across the UK. Adina Comorasu is a BACP-registered, trauma-informed psychotherapist whose training includes a BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and an MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy. As an integrative psychotherapist, she typically follows a person-centred approach, built on the premise that clients already possess all the internal resources they need, and she is also comfortable using psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural approaches.

At the heart of the practice is work on anxiety through the healing of inner child wounds, combining body-mind psychotherapy, inner-child healing and trauma-informed care. Her work is meant for people who may be living with unexplained anxiety, symptoms of PTSD or low self-esteem, or who feel stuck in the same scenarios for years on end. People also come to her with low self-worth, relationship problems, fear of abandonment or rejection, difficulty with boundaries, people-pleasing, and overwhelming shame or guilt, and the work allows each person to process at their own pace.

Alongside her counselling work, the practice runs Nurture to Grow, an online community for people who have experienced childhood trauma, which meets live on Zoom for psychoeducation, Q&A, practical exercises and body-based interventions. Face-to-face therapy takes place in a ground-floor room at Hampstead West, on Iverson Road, in London NW6, and online counselling is offered via Zoom and Skype across the UK. Sessions last 50 minutes, the first appointment is an initial assessment, and all contact is strictly confidential.

---

Rumena Pervin is a freelance counsellor and psychotherapist with a private practice in Stratford, East London, in the E15 postcode area. She holds a BA (Hons), is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and works full time in private practice, seeing clients online or face to face. Her clients include individuals and couples, and some of them are based outside the UK.

Her philosophical orientation is rooted in person-centred theory, which starts from the idea that people have within themselves the means to grow towards the state of wellbeing that is right for them. Alongside it, she draws on a range of techniques depending on each client. Her training allows her to combine counselling, which addresses present-day life issues, with psychotherapy, which looks at issues that have their origins in the past. She works at emotional depth, something she considers particularly important when dealing with trauma and the impact of early childhood experiences, and she aims to make therapy accessible regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity or any other difference.

Most clients take a weekly session in a fixed time slot. Rumena Pervin is supervised by an independent practitioner whom she meets monthly, holds an Enhanced DBS certificate and operates under the ethical framework of the BACP. She speaks Bengali (Sylheti) but conducts therapy sessions in English, and she does not travel to the homes of individual clients. She can be contacted on 020 7101 3249.

---

The Trauma Practice is a private counselling and psychotherapy practice founded in 2018 by the psychotherapist Matthew Alderton, who holds an MA, a BSc and professional diplomas in psychotherapy. It offers psychotherapy, counselling, body psychotherapy and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy, known as EMDR, and it also provides wellness, life, performance and business coaching.

Its trauma-focused therapies are EMDR, body psychotherapy and cognitive processing therapy, while the more general ones include counselling, psychotherapy, behavioural therapy and a Gestalt way of working. All of them follow a person-centred, integrative and holistic approach that takes into account each person’s circumstances. Psychotherapy works at the client’s own pace with the conscious and unconscious parts of the self, while body psychotherapy brings the body into more traditional types of therapy. The practice supports people dealing with trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, phobias, low self esteem, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and tinnitus. It understands trauma as something that can arise when a person feels overwhelmed psychologically and emotionally by an event.

Matthew Alderton sees clients at the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education in Little Venice, 2 Warwick Crescent, Paddington, London W2 6NE, five minutes on foot from Warwick Avenue tube station, and from his home in Cuffley, Hertfordshire. Online therapy is also available. Sessions last 50 minutes and take place at the same time each week. Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by calling 07944 996 646.