Dr Jack Closs DPsych, MSc, BA

About me

Welcome!

I understand that looking for a therapist can feel bit overwhelming and confusing. I hope the information below will help to answer some of your questions but if you would like to know more, please contact me in confidence via our team at Avenue Therapies by email (therapy@avenuetherapies.com) or phone (01420540220).

About me

The first thing to say is that I am a Counselling Psychologist, registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC). As a Counselling Psychologist I am trained to doctoral level to deliver researched and evidence-based therapy from a variety of therapeutic ‘models’. This allows me to tailor therapy to your individual needs by selecting aspects of therapy models that will be most helpful to you. If you want to find out more, I have written a little about how psychologists are different from a counsellor, psychotherapist and psychiatrist below.

People look into therapy for a variety of reasons including psychological, emotional, personal or relational difficulties. I am passionate about understanding each person as an individual and tailoring therapy to their unique needs. I have trained in a breadth of psychological models which allows me to adapt therapy appropriately by selecting the aspects that will be most helpful to you. I have written more about the psychological models I work with below.

I value the role of the therapeutic relationship in enabling, mobilising and empowering people to move towards their full potential. The therapeutic relationship offers a collaborative space to explore and understand current difficulties from which change and new ways of being can grow. My intention as a therapist is to facilitate understanding and change that will ultimately enable the client to leave the therapeutic relationship and continue on their journey through life in their valued direction.

I am also part of Avenue Therapies, a community practice of highly experienced and qualified Psychologists and Psychological Therapists. We offer clinics over a variety of locations. For more details please visit http://www.avenuetherapies.com/contact.

Many of the team have attended advanced level training and have particular specialisms so, although I may not be an expert in the area you would like support with, it is likely someone within our team is. We offer a variety of different therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Schema Therapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy and Systemic approaches. Was also have Occupational Therapy services and close links to local Psychiatric colleagues. All of the team at Avenue Therapies work in accordance with the guidance set by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

My experience

I have worked in mental healthcare since 2010, qualifying as a counselling psychologist in 2017. Currently, I am employed in an NHS psychotherapy service; I offer cognitive behaviour therapy to people with common mental health conditions. Whilst training, I gained experience in using psychological therapies across a broad range of NHS mental health services, with adults, adolescents and families. I have worked both in outpatient and inpatient settings.

Before I began my training, I worked for three years in mental healthcare, within NHS, charity and research settings. My main role during this time, was within an NHS mental health hospital, supporting people in their recovery from particularly overwhelming mental health conditions.

My values

As a counselling psychologist, as well as learning multiple psychotherapeutic approaches, my training was based on the importance of understanding an individual’s unique experience, and on how this can be explored in a therapeutic relationship. Although there are many things that shape who we are as individuals, it is, I believe, our relationships, both with ourselves and others, that often influence us most profoundly. By developing our awareness of these relationships, we can develop valuable and compassionate self-understanding. I aim for my clients to be able to use this understanding to help them to find ways of improving the quality of their lives.

The models I work with

I have experience of using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Person-Centred Therapy, and both short-term (c.6 sessions) and longer-term (c.40 sessions) psychodynamic therapy. I tailor my therapeutic approach according to what the client wants to work on, integrating different approaches as appropriate.

What to expect from your therapy sessions?

I work to provide a safe, contained and confidential space on a weekly basis in which you can share the difficulties you want to work on, at a pace you feel comfortable, so we can work together towards understanding and change in the direction of your values.

The first session is the assessment and will be slightly longer than a normal session at 90 minutes. This is to give enough time to explore what you have come to therapy for, what you have tried in the past, what helped and what didn't help. At the end of this session, I will try and make some recommendations around what may be most helpful for you. Following our meeting, I'll summarise our conversation in a letter which I will email to you.

After the assessment session, the sessions will be 50-55 minutes. Each person I work with is very different so it is difficult to predict how many sessions will be needed. From a personal therapeutic perspective, my aim is only to work with a person for as long as it is helpful and to empower the person to leave therapy with the skills they need.

How is a psychologist different?

Clinical and counselling psychologists train to a doctoral level in a range of therapeutic models which allows them to tailor therapy. Formulation is a particular skill of psychologists for making sense of individual difficulties and needs and tailoring therapy from different models to the person. Counsellors and psychotherapists are also qualified therapeutic practitioners but are generally trained in one therapeutic model and not to doctoral level. Psychiatrists are also doctors but they work with people experiencing mental health difficulties using medications to help manage these difficulties rather than talking therapies.