The best way to contact me is via email at nickread7@gmail.com, but please read on for more specific information.
For general enquiries about my website and its contents, please email me. I am always glad to read what people have to say.
Clinical work and patient appointments
Most of the people I see are grappling with existential issues that cannot be faced and are played out through body symptoms: guilt, shame, anxiety about death, loneliness, loss of meaning, loss of agency and control, confusions over identity and never feeling good enough. Crises may be rekindled by particular events, but resolution often involved idea identifying the nature of what has happened and working to come to terms with the existential theme.
I was trained in a psychoanalytical model, though the way I practice might be better described as existential – concerned with a person’s concept of who they are and how they can live a more free and authentic life. This is more about meaning than behaviour or process. I do not employ any particular technique; I try to engage my whole personality and training with that of my patient and let myself experience where they are.
In our first meeting, I let people tell their story often without interruption, paying particular attention to what was happening when the illness first started and why was that so important to them, what seems to make the illness worse and what makes it better, and what their illness seems to represent. I give their story my full attention. I am curious and not judgemental, though I may at times disclose the feelings their presence and story evoke in me, noting any inconsistencies or omissions. I pay particular attention to their posture or body language or development of symptoms during the session.
It is usually the fractures in our personal relationships that upset us, affecting how we see ourselves in relation to others and bringing up existential issues that may have been buried long ago. These issues will inevitably be played out in the consulting room, where they can be examined and worked through. Being in therapy offers people the opportunity to be heard and understood without fear of criticism or ridicule. With that in mind, I try to create the space where a unique therapeutic relationship can develop between us, that facilitates change: and seeing things in a different way and arriving at a new sense of meaning. This requires an environment that fosters confidence, a safe haven with secure boundaries, but not so comfortable that it allows a drift into complacency.
People often ask how many sessions they will need and for how long. It takes time to create a trusting relationship and it takes as long as it takes. I prefer to work on a weekly basis in the beginning, but my clients often negotiate longer gaps between sessions as they find their own time and space to think. My experience is that as we engage, the bodily symptoms tend to retreat into the background as we grapple with the real issues. Progress may be given a boost when the symptom, perhaps a headache or a feeling of nausea enters the room and can be examined and resolved in the context of our relationship.
Finally, I do realise that therapy for illnesses like IBS are not a matter of a particular technique, even when this is holistic and existential. I have always find it helpful to have worked in gastroenterology, physiology, nutrition and discovered psychotherapy in my fifties. I can talk the different languages and more easily discuss the interface between mechanisms and meanings.
I see patients privately at Share Psychotherapy. To make an appointment to see me at Share Psychotherapy, please contact me by email.
Speaking engagements
If you would like me to give a lecture or talk, please contact me by email
