About me
With over 16 years experience in private practice I now specialise in running a service dedicated to helping other men.
It is recognised worldwide that men often feel unable/unwilling to talk, to admit when they have a problem. This can means that men self stigmatise as they think they maybe seen as less of a man by others if they do. Neither are healthy.
I offer men the chance to talk, be listened to and the chance to explore and choose a better way to live. Where new skills have to be taught by mutual agreement I will do that.
I specialise in working with men wanting therapy because of:
- Abuse (Current/Survivors only)
- Anxiety
- Bereavement
- Chemsex use
- Depression
- LGBTQIA+ issues
- Relationship issues
In counselling and psychotherapy you can learn to:
- Give yourself permission to talk about and experience your feelings.
- Silence the critical script that goes on in your head.
- Manage anxiety and stressful situations more effectively,
- Understand and manage your depression.
- Increase your sense of self-esteem, confidence and assertiveness.
- Explore which parts of your life you don't find fulfilling and satisfying and to
- Explore any changes you could make
- Support you to choose and change the correct and healthier for you
- Improve your relationships with your partner, family, friends and colleagues.
- Become aware of the effect of past events and decrease the impact they have in the present today.
- Acknowledge unhelpful habits and patterns in your life and create healthier ways.
Testimonials
"I started to see Allister when some recessed bad memories started to impact my life. He made a real difference and three years later I can still go to what he taught me. I was genuinely surprised. He's a really nice guy and felt like a friend from the second meeting and he will help you if that's what you need now" MA (July 2020)
'Allister is an incredibly helpful, nice and understanding therapist to which I owe a lot for helping feel liberated from anxiety and paranoia that encircled me for a couple of years. Being a student and living away from home I felt isolated in a city I was not 100% familiar with but with the help of Allister I was able to embrace the feeling of anxiety and turn it into a positive feeling which allowed me discover my environment and myself as well.' NS (Oct 2019)
"I saw Allister on a weekly basis for 6 months. He is very relatable, easy to get on with, and took great care to remember the details of my story. He listened carefully and spoke thoughtfully in each session, and his insights were extremely valuable in helping me on my way. I looked forward to the regular sessions each week, which became a steady cornerstone of my time in Edinburgh. I would highly recommend Allister to anyone considering professional help." EL Edinburgh
Training, qualifications & experience
Professional Qualifications
Graduate Diploma in Humanistic Psychotherapy from Spectrum Training,(London)
Post Graduate Certificate in Psychotherapy and a further 4 years at an on going Post Graduate Group.2004
Certificate in Counselling (Birkbeck College, UCL, London) 1998
Other Training
- TA101 (Transactional Analysis)
- Domestic Violence Training (Abused Men In Scotland)
- Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills (Spectrum)
- Anger Management (Spectrum)
- Assertiveness Training (Spectrum)
- Coaching for Counsellors (Rowan Consultancy, Perth)
- Intimacy, Sex and Affairs (SAPC)
- Group Work (Pink Therapy)
- Plus various conferences throughout the year
- Emotional impact of Living with epilepsy (Epilepsy Scotland)
- Cruse Bereavement training
- Trinity Hospice bereavement training
- Plus various conferences throughout each year
Specialist Training for working with gender, sexual and relationship diversity clients.
- Essentials in Gender And Sexual Diversity Therapy (Pink Therapy)
- Working with Chemsex. (Pink Therapy).
- Understanding Kink & BDSM (Pink Therapy)
- Non Monogamy November Series (Pink Therapy)
- Working with LGBTQI young People (BACP)
- Working with partners of Trans-Identified People (BACP)
- Kink On Pink - a 4 part series of webinars for therapists. (Pink Therapy)
- Asexualities: intimacy and desire (Pink Therapy)
- I'm too sexy: understanding sexual compulsivity in gay and bisexual men (Pink Therapy).
Voluntary Work.
Trinity Hospice (London) 2005 - www.trinityhospice.org.uk
Safe Space (Dunfermline) 2007 - 2009 - https://safe-space.co.uk For survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Abused Men in Scotland Helpline(AMIS) January 2015 to December 2017. www.abusedmeninscotland.org
I am a Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. www.bacpregister.org.uk (I am listed in Edinburgh)
I was a founding member of the BACP Coaching Section. www.bacpcoaching.co.uk
I am listed in The Directory of Pink Therapists.
Member organisations
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
Accredited Register Scheme
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I am also available for men who want to work on Personal Development.
I am a Kink/BDSM aware therapist and have experience of working with clients wanting to talk with an accepting therapist.
I am Chemsex aware and with experience of working with clients with this issue.
I am sex worker friendly with experience of working with both male and female workers.
Photos & videos
Fees
£70.00 per session
Additional information
Each session last for 50 minutes. I offer both weekly and fortnightly sessions. Coming fortnightly can for some make counselling with me more accessible. Change can be slower when you come fortnightly. This can be helped by agreeing to do some work by yourself such as reading, writing to name a few.
All session are invoiced and payable in advance via PayPal. Only in exceptional circumstances will this not apply. This must be agreed in advance. I will cancel all appointments not paid in advance.
I do not offer discounts.
Availability
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | |||||||
| Afternoon | |||||||
| Evening | |||||||
| Night |
Edinburgh
Sunday 12 noon - 7pm
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 1pm - 9pm
The number of appointment available are limited by Covid safety regualtions.
Further information
Making an initial appointment.
If you want to make and appointment please leave a voicemail. I will return your call. I return calls and reply to emails Sunday to Friday between 11am and 8pm.
When I call you and don't get a reply I will leave a message when possible or send you an email to let you know that I have called. Once I have done that I will wait for you to contact me again. I will not keep calling or emailing you.
