James Austin
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I was helped tremendously by my own experience of therapy, and have been influenced by a variety of approaches to it. I know a thing or two about depression, not caring much for oneself and struggling to understand one’s feelings; I come at it as one who has seen for himself that a better life and a better relationship with the self is both possible and worthwhile.
If you would like to know more about me, how I understand therapy and how I work, you might want to visit my website, where I write about all at some depth. For the purposes of this profile, I will try to be succinct.
I am an integrative therapist, which means I employ a variety of approaches and theories to my work, as I do not think any one school of counselling or psychotherapy has a monopoly on truth, or works for every client. That said, I almost always incorporate an attachment based perspective, which in my opinion is one of the most research backed approaches we have.
I understand therapy to be a space where you can speak freely about and explore what you really feel and think, with someone completely separated from your daily life, whose only agenda is giving you their undivided attention with unconditional respect, radical yet sensitive honesty and true empathy.
Both through my training and my life experience, I am very sensitive to questions of identity. I employ humility and empathy in all my work with difference, be that at the level of culture, gender, class, nationality, race and ethnicity, sexuality, religion, Disability, wealth, education, political affiliation, experience of and capacity for prejudice, and so on. I believe strongly that therapy should be accessible for all.
Training, qualifications & experience
Some of the issues and themes I have worked with include:
- Depression
- Anxiety / Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Suicidal ideation
- Childhood abuse, neglect and sexual abuse
- Domestic violence
- Bereavement
- Loss
- Trauma
- Abuse
- Self-esteem
- Self-confidence
- Self-agency
- Attachment styles and disorders
- Codependency
- Identity
- Sexuality
- Recurrent problems in relationships
- Erectile dysfunction
- Stress related to child custody, divorce and legal conflict
- Parenting
- Experiences around Specific Learning Difficulties (SPLD), such as dyslexia
- Panic attacks
- Chronic pain
- Expatriate issues
- Distress due to conspiratorial ideation (believing in conspiracy theories)
I have also been trained to work with addictions, substance misuse disorders and eating disorders.
My professional qualifications are as follows:
Advanced Diploma in Humanistic Integrative Counselling (Distinction), Centre for Personal and Professional Development (CPPD)
MSc Psychology (Distinction), University of East London
CPCAB Level 2 & 3 Certificates in Counselling Studies and Skills, Lambeth College
BA (Hon.) Philosophy, University of Sussex
I am a registered member of the BACP and my register number is 382938. I hold full professional indemnity insurance.
I undertake regular continued professional development. Recent courses and workshops I have attended include:
- Working Therapeutically with Sexual Abuse
- Working therapeutically with Sleeping and Dreaming
- Neuroscience, Attachment and Therapeutic Alliance
- Psychiatry, Psychopathology and Psychodynamics
Member organisations
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£65.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I work with limited number of clients at concessionary rates, please feel free to ask if I have availability for this when making an enquiry.
When I work
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I can offer flexible appointments if required. We would usually meet weekly, but might meet more or less often if needed.
Further information
I work online, via Zoom or a similar medium.
I will reply to any enquiries sent through counselling directory from an email address hosted at my own website, as there is no direct message function on counselling directory. As such, please check your spam filters/spam folder after contacting me via counselling directory, as my email to you may have been flagged as spam.
