Clair Lewoski
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
The therapy I offer is grounded primarily in a safe, trusting and confidential relationship which we build together. From this secure vantage point we can then look together at what may be troubling you and find ways forward.
Many of us may not have experienced such a relationship in our lives and it can be transformative.
To feel truly heard and accepted non judgementally, in all our aspects, may provide a new perspective on ourselves and our lives and enable us to know more what we need and want. As I am additionally trained as a child psychotherapist, I am very aware of how adversity experienced in childhood may impact us still in adulthood. Many adult client's feel this perspective brings something they have been seeking.
My aim is to provide a therapeutic space where it feels safe for us to explore and to see how patterns established early in our lives can be changed. My therapeutic approach is based therefore not upon, 'What's wrong with you?' but rather, "What's happened to you? What's your story? What have you done to survive or to cope?'
Being a qualified Arts Therapist I offer the opportunity to work with images. Sometimes how we feel may be difficult to describe in words. This does not mean you have to be good at art or see yourself as artistic. Rather, through looking at art images such as those on a postcard, listening to a song or music, placing symbols in the sand tray or working with dreams, we may be able to understand a feeling or an issue in a new way. I also sometimes use awareness/mindfulness in sessions particularly to help with coping with anxiety or challenging emotions.
It can be hard making the first move to begin therapy, but I am ready to be the person to make the journey with you into becoming more whom you feel you could be.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have been working as a therapist for over 28 years and am registered with UKCP, HCPC and BACP. I am a member of The Bowlby Centre, London and The Institute for Arts in Psychotherapy and Education, London.
I am an Attachment Based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Arts Psychotherapist offering psychotherapy for adults. I also am a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist seeing children and families.
I have 2 Masters degrees related to therapy and have trained other therapists for over a decade, lecturing both at Cambridge University and at the Institute for Arts In Psychotherapy and Education, London.
I currently examine and supervise trainees as well as teach and supervise experienced therapists. Being a trainer and lecturer means that I am very aware of and up to date with practice and research in the field of psychotherapy with adults and children.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
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 work with adults of all ages.
I work with children from 3 years upwards and adolescents.
I also work with parents regarding their parenting and families providing Mentalization Based Family Treatment which is a short term intervention aimed at helping families to related better to each other.
Therapies offered
Fees
£75.00 - £100.00
Additional information
HOW LONG WILL I NEED TO COME FOR?
We begin with several assessment sessions (up to 3) to enable us both to get a sense of what I offer and if it feels right for you. We may then contract for open ended ongoing work together which means we do not start with an end date in mind. How long people come for very much depends on their circumstances in a practical sense and also what is needed. Some people may come for several months, others for much longer. Sometimes seeing each other 2x per week can feel helpful too, however that is not for everyone. You are very much a partner in the process so we work out these things together as they evolve.
The assessment process is very similar with children and adolescents, in that their experience is taken very much into account but this is also done alongside involvement of parents/carers, so that in addition to me seeing a young person alone I meet with parents/carers. Young people come both briefly and for much longer periods of time depending on their needs.
Further information
WHAT DOES 'ATTACHMENT BASED PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY' MEAN?
Attachment based therapy believes that as human beings we are born neurologically wired to connect with other people and that it is within the context of safe, secure and trusting relationships that we most thrive.
Psychoanalytic and attachment based therapy has this relational focus, placing the relationship with the client and the therapist at its heart; it looks both at current and past relationships, to discover how they may be shaping our lives and particularly the issues which may have brought us to therapy. (This way of working is adapted to children and adolescents through the use of play and creative materials in addition to talking).
Why we come to therapy may not necessarily at first appear connected to relationships in our lives past or present. What often becomes evident however is that the relationship we have with ourselves, such as with our thoughts, feelings, desires, worries and concerns may be a source of difficulty for us. Looking at this relationship together offers a route to transformation.
I am a member of The Bowlby Centre in London. You can find out more about attachment based psychotherapy through their website: thebowlbycentre.org.uk/psychotherapy
