Howard Martin

You may be facing a difficult time in your life at the moment and looking for help and support. Are you feeling anxious, uncertain, depressed or generally unhappy? Having sexual or relationship issues? Perhaps you are trapped in patterns of behaviour or addictions that feel out of control?

Sometimes we feel unable to talk things through with friends and family and want to speak to someone who is not involved and is trained to help. That’s where I can help as a psychotherapist. I can work with you by providing a space in which you can talk about and understand your situation and think about possible changes. Together, we can identify underlying themes and patterns of behaviour that get in the way of a happy and productive way of life and I can support you in achieving the life, relationships and well-being you wish for.

About me

I’m a qualified and experienced UKCP therapist offering Online short and long-term therapy and face-to-face in Swansea . I work with a variety of issues including depression, anxiety, stress, sexual and relationship issues.

Through successfully dealing with my own personal difficulties and training in Counselling and Psychotherapy I have gained an understanding of how best to help different people with different characters - each person is unique and therefore no single approach suits all. I aim to help you gain awareness of unconscious thoughts, feelings and desires that may be having negative impacts on your daily life and turn these into positives.

What's the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy?

This is a *very* generalised description of what is complex to describe! Generally speaking Counselling tends to  be more short-term and does not go as much into your past than Psychotherapy which tends to be more long-term and focuses on the past as much as the present, looking at the personality in more depth. I am trained in both Counselling and Psychotherapy so I use the word “therapy” to cover both and can work to whatever duration or depth you require.

My Approach

My approach is Integrative which means I have been trained in several theoretical approaches and use whatever approach would be appropriate for you . These include C.B.T. (Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy), Person-Centred Counselling, Humanistic and Psychoanalytic .

How does therapy work and how can it help me?

We can all face problems in life and therapy can offer a safe haven at challenging times. I would provide a safe, supportive, non-judgmental and confidential space to explore whatever you need to talk about. This process allows you to clarify your thoughts and look at yourself and your story with acceptance and understanding, enabling you to contact inner resources and energy that you may have lost touch with. Therapy helps you to recognise how the helpful and unhelpful ways you relate to yourself and others often echo the helpful and unhelpful aspects of your earlier relationships and experiences.  Sometimes these ways of relating will show themselves in the way we relate and it may be fruitful to examine these.

I might suggest exercises to you, changes in routine or homework. I would not impose my opinion on you however, always aiming to empower you in your decision-making. New ways of thinking and being can be experimented with in therapy and these can be carried out into the wider world as you increasingly create more of the life that you want.

Issues that I work with include Anxiety, Depression, Relationships, Separation and Divorce, Betrayal and Affairs, Self - esteem, Stress, S.A.D., O.C.D., Compulsive Hoarding, Childhood Trauma, Sexuality, Abuse and Family Issues. I also work with drug or alcohol addiction or other addictive or compulsive behaviour patterns around Nicotine, Spending, Food, Work, Co-dependency and Co-Addiction. I have particularly extensive experience in the treatment of Sex Addiction/Compulsion.

Please telephone me on 07766 60630 if you would like to make an initial appointment so you can assess if I am the right therapist for you.

Divorce

Relationship Issues

Loneliness

Life crises

Life changes

Redundancy

Creative blocks

Spirituality

Loss of Meaning

50 Minute Session: £75

There are sometimes lower cost spaces available in Swansea for people on lower incomes. Please enquire as to availability.

For specialised help with sex addiction or sexual compulsion please see my website:

http://www.sexaddictionhelp.org.uk/