Zak Hulstrom
Integrative counsellorAbout Me
I’m a qualified counsellor and I’m here to support you with whatever you’re going through.
You might be looking for someone to talk to, someone apart from your friends and family, who won’t judge you for how you’re feeling. You might need space to explore your thoughts and feelings, to make sense of your experiences and patterns. Maybe something happened to you, or maybe nothing in particular happened, but either way you feel things aren’t right. Therapy is a place to lay it all out on the table, and together we can talk about what’s going on for you.
Our relationship is the most important part of therapy, so you need to work with someone you can trust. I will want to help you have insight into yourself and your relationships, and find new ways to live your life. I find it important to create a warm and respectful relationship, so that you feel safe enough to explore what brings you to counselling.
In our sessions, you might hear me ask about your experience growing up because patterns of thinking and behaving can be created when we’re young. As children, we rely so much on our parents to survive that we can twist and contort ourselves to earn their love, but then we become adults and sometimes those patterns are still there. We can look at these patterns together so that you might have more of a say about how much they affect your life.
How I work
You might also hear me ask about what’s happening in your body. Often, we can feel or sense things that we don’t have the words for because our bodies are trying to communicate something. If we stop and listen to these signals, we can learn about how we really feel. Words can also get in the way of expressing ourselves, especially if we don’t have a language for our emotional landscape. Paying attention to our gestures, sensations and body movements can reveal important information about what’s happening – right now – that we might not even be aware of.
These are just some of the many ways our conversations could go.
I value the diversity in us all, whether that’s to do with your race, ethnicity and the colour of your skin, gender or sexuality, age, religious or political belief, disability - to name a few. I have an LGBTQ-affirmative and an anti-racist approach. These affect all people because each of us are diverse in our own ways, and it’s by appreciating these differences that we might learn to be more compassionate to ourselves and others.
Locations
Issues often worked with
Types of therapy
Therapy offered
Client groups
Fees
London: £75
Stroud and Online: £65
Training and qualifications
I received my Diploma in Counselling from The Minster Centre in London, one of the UK's leading training institutions for counsellors and psychotherapists. I have been working in mental health since 2014, having been a Trustee of West London Mind and served as a befriender for Mind too.
I’m a Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), have an Enhanced DBS Certificate, and am registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) which means I protect your personal data through GDPR.
Verified professional membership
