I offer long-term or short-term psychotherapy for individuals and couples, in English and Japanese.

I have practiced psychotherapy and counselling since 2006 with a wide variety of clients in the NHS, charities such as Mind, university counselling service and a secondary school as well as in my private practice. I completed my doctoral training in 2012 and hold a qualification as a Chartered Counselling Psychologist.

I work with a wide range of issues that the clients bring, including relational difficulties, lack of self-confidence, trauma and abuse, depression including post-natal depression, dealing with physical ailments, life transitions and spiritual and cultural issues. I am committed to helping my clients with care, respect and confidentiality, in a co-creative and collaborative way.

I trained integratively in many theoretical approaches and I choose my approach from these modalities to suit each client's needs and issues.

The modalities I mostly draw upon (and their respective focuses of exploration) are:

-  psychodynamic ( how our early experiences unconsciously influence our current experiences of ourselves and our relationships)

-  Jungian/transpersonal (how one is embedded in the greater whole and connected to the unconscious knowledge held collectively)

- existential-humanistic (how to live authentically and to take responsibility for our choices, whilst accepting limitations inherent in life)

-  body psychotherapy (how one's experiences and beliefs are held or reflected in one's body)

-  and energy psychotherapy (using our inherent capacity to heal as an energetic being)

I am often asked if I offer CBT. I am more keen to explore about and connect to who the clients are in their wholeness rather than compartmentalising cognition, feelings and behaviours as in CBT. Therefore, for those who are interested in CBT, I would instead offer Advanced Integrative Therapy (AIT), an energy psychotherapy modality developed by a Jungian psychoanalyst. AIT works directly and structurally on gently removing the negative impact of previous and current traumas held at energy and body levels.

I also incorporate working with dreams and archetypal figures, visualisation, energy and mindfulness based body-mind practices, using artwork, poetry and movement as appropriate.

I am registered with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), British Psychological Society (BPS) and British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and abide by their code of ethics.

Please get in touch if you would like to set up an initial appointment or have any other queries. More information is available on my website (www.asukayamashina.com).