Brief therapy
for men

You and I agree what you want help with and give that concern focused attention. Brief focused therapy aims to make useful progress in the time available, rather than assume that useful work has to wait until several meetings have passed. A clear focus helps us use the time purposefully without imposing a deadline or ruling out further support.

I offer Single-Session Therapy (SST) and Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT). SST means working one conversation at a time, with further help available. FACT usually involves a short agreed series. Neither means you must finish by a deadline or manage alone afterwards.

On your free welcome call, I explain the options and help you consider what fits. You do not need to choose a method before speaking with me.

£95 for a 50-minute conversation. Single-Session Therapy describes how I approach the work. It does not mean one appointment is all you are allowed, or that your concern must be resolved by the end. The price includes an optional guided discovery form and an optional feedback component. You can compare ongoing counselling fees and payment options.

You and I choose the concern that matters most to you today and agree what you would like to take from our conversation. I work with you as though this meeting may be our only one, while keeping further support available if you need it.

I have undertaken live training in advanced Single-Session Therapy practice with Professor Windy Dryden. That training informs how I help you establish a focus, use the time purposefully and consider a practical next step. You can also read about my training and qualifications.

You can read Windy Dryden’s explanation of SST ↗. The intention is to help with your chosen concern in this meeting, with more help available. It is an intention, rather than a promise of a particular outcome.

Before we meet

Your welcome call gives you space to ask questions and decide whether to work with me. An optional guided discovery form can help you identify what you would like us to focus on.

When we talk

I ask what you want help with, what you have already tried and what would make this conversation useful to you. You might bring a decision, a difficult conversation or something that keeps happening. We consider what is realistic to work on now and what you might try afterwards.

Afterwards

You can reflect on the conversation and try any steps you have chosen. There is an optional feedback component around three weeks later. You do not have to wait for that feedback to ask for more support.

If another conversation would help, you can return. If an agreed series or ongoing counselling would fit better, I discuss that with you. Returning does not mean the earlier conversation failed. You decide whether to continue, subject to availability.

Read about reflection and further support in Windy Dryden’s ONEplus approach ↗.

These recordings from 1965 show Gloria in one meeting with Carl Rogers, one with Albert Ellis and one with Fritz Perls in Three Approaches to Psychotherapy. You can watch how each therapist uses a different approach within a single conversation.

I include the films here as examples of single-session work. SST describes working one conversation at a time, rather than a particular therapeutic approach. Each film shows an individual meeting, and further conversations can still follow single-session work.

You can read about the approaches I draw on. The recordings are hosted on YouTube and only load when you choose to watch. Some of the language and methods reflect their time.

£60 per 50-minute session, usually two to four sessions. A short planned course rather than a single meeting. FACT is a brief form of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, built for settings where time is short by Kirk Strosahl, one of the people who developed ACT, and Patti Robinson. My training in it is theirs. See the conversation rate and payment options.

It addresses how you respond when difficult thoughts and feelings turn up, what you notice while it is happening, and what you actually do about what matters to you.

The first session of the work itself is structured, and it does something rather than being an assessment you sit through. We look at what you have already tried, how that went, and what you want instead - then agree something specific to try before we meet again, and that part is purposeful because it shifts things between sessions.

Later sessions start with how that went, including when it did not happen or did not work. That is information about what gets in the way, not a mark against you. The number of sessions is agreed with you rather than fixed in advance, and reviewed as we go. If it becomes clear that longer work would serve you better, I will say so.

FACT is not built around a single diagnosis. It is used with anxiety, low mood, anger, drinking and drug use, and living alongside a health condition, and it is not limited to those. What it works on is how you respond when those thoughts and feelings turn up, which can be the same in more than one part of your life.

You do not have to arrive knowing which format you want, and there is no form that decides it for you. New clients start with a free welcome call. I will ask what you are bringing, explain what each format involves, and say which I think fits and why.

The recommendation is mine to make; the decision stays yours. If neither fits, I will say that too, and point you to what does - ongoing counselling, or something outside this practice.

Neither format provides a diagnosis, a formal assessment report or crisis care. If you are in crisis now, the crisis support page lists the lines that answer day and night.

Returning clients can email me about another appointment. See fees and payment options, including session credits, and the cancellation terms.

Start with a welcome call to talk through what you want to work on, ask questions and check availability. This is not a therapy session.