Alex Jozavi

(To learn more about me and my approach, please watch this 5 minute video, in which I introduce the concept of 'containment' in therapy):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuHk5M8rM1c

In my experience, the quality of the therapeutic relationship—that special bond between client and therapist—is key to change and progress. Because of this, I suggest the following when it comes to therapy. If by the end of our first session you do not feel that we would fit well together, then we can agree to part ways on friendly terms, and I will waive my usual fee entirely. If on the other hand you feel there may be something promising, and would like to keep working together, then I will charge as normal, and we can continue from there. With this as a foundation, your intuitive feel for what may be helpful becomes the main touchstone for our therapeutic relationship moving forward.

As an integrative therapist, I believe in an existential-analytic approach to emotional suffering. My training and clinical experience suggest to me that the 'symptoms' clients enter therapy for help with are meaningfully connected with deeper existential issues. It is shortsighted to view things like anxiety, depression, phobias and more as 'diseases of the mind', 'disorders', or even 'irrational patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour'. At their root they are forms of suffering, linked with real and valid—if sometimes hard to understand—problems in living. Fundamental human concerns around which you (consciously or otherwise) are sensitive, and have developed responses to:

"I regard mental illness as the 'way out' that the free organism in its total unity, invents in order to be able to live through an intolerable situation."
        ~Jean-Paul Sartre, in Reason and Violence by Laing & Cooper~ 

This can result in many complex, painful, and seemingly inescapable forms of stuckness. A new source of turmoil, rather than a real solution to one's deeper problems. The hope in therapy is therefore to invite space for change in how you approach your life situation. To begin forming a curious and self-compassionate attitude toward your own suffering, in partnership with me, the therapist. So that together, we can come to explore the possible meaning and function of your symptoms. With growing understanding and resilience, a path then opens for the client to free themselves up for other less painful, and more authentic ways to emotionally respond to life's deepest concerns. Throughout this shared journey, I will support your courage and self-reflection, as you discover a way of being that truly feels right for you.

I run my private practice from a spacious, sound-proofed, heated and air-conditioned log cabin outside of my home, which is around five minutes away from Frensham Little Pond. Please take a look at the photos below to see if the location appeals to you.    

Please contact me via email or mobile (07841 523629) if you would like to arrange a session. 

As mentioned at the start of my profile, my policy with the fee for our initial session is that you only pay if you would like to continue working together. If you do not feel that we would fit well together after our initial session, then I will waive the fee for that session entirely, and encourage you to seek support elsewhere.