About me
A warm welcome to my practice.
I am a highly qualified and experienced psychotherapist, counsellor and psychologist offering individual and couples therapy in Chelmsford and online. I work with adults and young people from the age of 16.
I am the founder of Grounded Investigative Psychotherapy — or GIP — a new development in therapy. GIP is the clinical application of my wider work in Grounded Psychology, an approach to understanding human experience which I have developed through many years of clinical practice, academic research, independent investigation and personal development.
The purpose of GIP is to help you reach a more grounded, truthful and in-depth understanding of your experience. This is achieved through careful, collaborative investigation rather than through ready-made explanations, formulaic techniques or the automatic application of inherited therapeutic theory.
Many people who contact me are not simply looking for a space to talk. They want therapy that is thoughtful, active and substantial. They want to understand what is happening in them and around them; why certain patterns keep repeating; why particular feelings, reactions or relationships have become difficult; and how their past, personality, relationships, choices, assumptions, circumstances and wider life history may be connected.
This is the kind of work I offer.
A new development in therapy
Psychotherapy has often moved between two unsatisfactory tendencies.
At one end, therapists may impose interpretations, theories or diagnostic categories too quickly. The client’s experience is then understood through a framework which may not truly fit them. At the other end, therapy may step back so far from interpretation that it becomes mainly supportive, reflective or non-directive, leaving the client without enough help in making sense of what is really happening.
Grounded Investigative Psychotherapy offers a different position. It does not impose a theory on your experience, but it also does not leave you alone with it. Instead, therapist and client work together to investigate the client’s psychological reality carefully, directly and in depth.
This is why I describe GIP as both grounded and investigative. It is grounded because it starts from the concrete reality of your experience: what you feel, think, perceive, remember, avoid, repeat, assume, need, fear, desire and struggle to express. It is investigative because we do not assume that the first explanation is necessarily the right one. We look carefully, clarify, question, describe, test assumptions and identify patterns.
The aim is to arrive at an understanding which is not merely plausible, comforting or theoretically familiar, but closer to what is actually true in your experience.
Getting to what is really happening
A central question in psychotherapy is how client and therapist come to understand what is really happening in the client’s psychological life.
This is not as simple as it may sound. People often arrive with descriptions of themselves and their difficulties that are partial, confused, inherited, defensive, or shaped by fear, shame, pain, past experience, family patterns, cultural expectations or social pressures. Therapists, too, can impose theories too quickly or reduce complex experience to familiar categories.
For this reason, I place great importance on the quality of understanding we develop together. In GIP, understanding is not assumed at the beginning. It is built carefully through dialogue, observation, description, emotional processing and shared investigation.
This matters because the quality of therapeutic change depends greatly on the quality of understanding from which it emerges. If the understanding is superficial, biased or inaccurate, the therapy remains limited. If the understanding becomes more grounded and truthful, change can become deeper, more relevant and more enduring.
This deeper understanding can help you process difficult feelings, recognise patterns, make better decisions, communicate more clearly, set boundaries, recover direction, and develop a stronger sense of who you are and how you want to live.
How I work
My style is warm, engaged, collaborative and direct. I offer a confidential and non-judgemental space in which you can speak freely, but I also take an active part in the therapeutic conversation.
I do not work by applying a fixed therapeutic formula to every client. Nor do I reduce therapy to listening, reassurance, symptom management or the use of techniques. These may all have their place, but they are not enough when a person needs to understand their life and difficulties in depth.
Together, we look closely at your experience and at the meanings, patterns and conflicts that may be shaping it. We examine the way you understand yourself, others and the world around you. We also pay attention to the circumstances, relationships, histories and pressures that have formed part of your life.
At times, I may help you find more accurate words for what you are experiencing. At other times, I may invite you to examine assumptions, emotional reactions, relational patterns or ways of seeing yourself that may no longer be adequate.
This is not about imposing interpretations on you. It is about building understanding together.
Who may benefit from working with me
You may find my approach especially helpful if you are looking for therapy that is active, thoughtful and in-depth.
You may be someone who wants more than general support. You may want to understand yourself, your relationships, your emotional life, your past, your choices, or your current situation more clearly. You may feel that previous explanations have been too simple, too generic, or not quite true to your experience. You may also be looking for a therapist who can work with complexity rather than reduce it too quickly.
Clients often come to me because they want to make sense of things. They may be facing anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, grief, relationship difficulties, low confidence, identity questions, existential concerns, or a painful sense of confusion or disconnection. But the focus of the work is not simply the label attached to the difficulty. The focus is on understanding the person, the experience, and the deeper pattern involved.
What I can help with
I work with a wide range of issues, including:
* anxiety, stress, panic and overwhelm
* depression, low mood and loss of motivation
* trauma, painful memories and emotional wounds
* grief, loss and major life changes
* relationship and couple difficulties
* low self-esteem, shame, guilt or feelings of inadequacy
* identity questions and personal development
* sexuality and gender-related issues
* existential questions, including meaning, purpose, life direction, ageing, death and spiritual concerns
* addiction, compulsive patterns and self-defeating behaviour
* difficulties linked to family, work, culture, society or life history
Therapy may be short-term and focused, or longer-term and more exploratory, depending on what you need.
My contribution to psychotherapy
My work is informed by more than 22 years of clinical experience and over 30 years of academic and independent research into human psychology and human experience.
Through this work, I have developed Grounded Psychology, the wider framework behind Grounded Investigative Psychotherapy. Grounded Psychology aims to understand human experience as accurately and completely as possible by starting from what can be observed, described, reported and explored, rather than from inherited theoretical assumptions.
This is a scientific and methodological contribution as well as a clinical one. It is concerned with how human experience can be understood without reducing it too quickly to one school of therapy, one discipline, one theory, one diagnostic label, or one social or cultural explanation.
My background includes psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, education, theology and the spiritual traditions. This breadth is important because human beings cannot be adequately understood from one narrow perspective alone. Our difficulties may be emotional, relational, bodily, social, cultural, developmental, existential, moral or spiritual — and often several of these at once.
This broad knowledge base allows me to work in a way that is not limited to one therapeutic model. I draw on existing theories where they are useful, but I do not simply apply learned theory. My work is grounded in observation, dialogue, clinical experience, research, and the concrete reality of the person sitting in front of me.
GIP is the therapeutic application of this broader work. It brings this scientific and methodological concern into the therapy room, where it becomes a practical way of helping clients understand themselves and their experience more truthfully, more concretely and more fully.
Working with me
Working with me means entering into a serious but humane process of investigation. You do not need to arrive with everything clearly formulated. Some people begin with a specific problem. Others begin with a feeling, a question, a crisis, or a sense that something is not right.
Our work begins from where you are. Together, we gradually build a clearer understanding of what you are experiencing, why it matters, how it has developed, and what may need to change.
The aim is not only relief from distress, although that is often important. It is also to help you become more capable of understanding yourself, relating to others, engaging with life, and making choices that are more grounded, free and authentic.
Practical information
I offer therapy to individuals and couples.
Sessions usually take place weekly and last 50 minutes. The frequency can be increased where appropriate.
I currently see clients from my private practice in Chelmsford and online. My practice is close to Chelmsford city centre, with parking available and easy access by bus or train. Chelmsford station is approximately 15 minutes away on foot.
During the summer months, sessions may also take place in my garden under a wooden gazebo, where appropriate.
The initial session gives us the opportunity to discuss what brings you to therapy, what you are looking for, and whether working together feels right. It does not commit you to further sessions unless you wish to continue.
Next steps
You are welcome to contact me by phone, text or email if you would like to arrange an initial appointment or ask any questions.
You can call or text me on: 07475 520419
Or use the email link on this page.
To make communication easier, please include a mobile number in your email and check your junk mail folder if you are waiting for a reply.
You can also visit my website to learn more about Grounded Investigative Psychotherapy, Grounded Psychology, my background, and the way I work: www.guyvandewalle.co.uk
Training, qualifications & experience
I have 22 years experience in private practice and have been working for two counselling organisations, namely Havering and Brentwood Bereavement Service (HBBS) and Renew (ex. West Ham Central Mission, WHCM) between February 2013 and April 2016.
I have been involved in academic research for over 30 years. My research has covered many disciplines which include psychotherapy, psychology, social sciences, philosophy (both western and eastern), the history of ideas and the spiritual traditions. Combined with my in-depth knowledge of psychotherapeutic theories, my research activities have allowed me to develop a very detailed and accurate model of the human psyche and human psychological life. This model provides a strong foundation for my therapeutic interventions which most of my clients find both appropriate and effective, as demonstrated by the testimonials on my website.
Relevant qualifications include:
- PhD & MSc in Psychology
- Diploma in Counselling (BACP accredited course)
- PhD in Philosophy & Social Sciences - deferred
- MPhil in Philosophy & Social Sciences (with distinction)
- MA & BA in Philosophy
- BA in History & Social Anthropology
I am a BACP Accredited Counsellor/ Psychotherapist and adhere to the BACP Ethical Framework for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
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.
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
- Search for meaning
- mid-life crisis
- identity issues
- fear of death
- social-cultural exclusion
- isolation
- loneliness
- feeling of inadequacy
- exploration of spirituality
- spiritual development
Therapies offered
Fees
£85.00 - £115.00
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
The following fees apply:
Individuals: £85
Couples: £115
A cancellation policy applies (see my website for details).
All sessions are payable, including the initial session.
When I work
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Further information
My website provides further information about me, my background, my services, and the approach which informs my work: www.guyvandewalle.co.uk
There, you will find a fuller presentation of Grounded Investigative Psychotherapy, the therapeutic approach I have developed, and Grounded Psychology, the broader framework behind it. I explain how my work is grounded not only in clinical experience, but also in many years of academic and independent research, theory-building, and sustained personal development.
This matters because therapy is most effective when it is responsive to the complexity of the person, rather than limited by ready-made explanations or generic techniques. My website explains how I use collaborative investigation, careful description, and broad psychological understanding to help clients make sense of their experience in depth.
You will also find a comprehensive FAQ page, where I answer many of the questions people may have before starting therapy, as well as testimonials from former clients describing what working with me is like.
