Kevin Joseph Collins

I am a UKCP registered Psychotherapeutic Counsellor with an academic background in the field of literature and linguistics. I worked for a number of years in education - in schools and university. Indeed, it was through my study of literature that I began to become interested in psychoanalytic practice.

I completed my training in Psychodynamic Practice at the University of Oxford.  Whilst studying, I developed a number of research interests, most notably in dealing with issues of identity, addiction, anxiety and loss. My Master’s research involved exploring ways of working psychodynamically with clients in life transition, a field where I have extensive experience in supporting clients of all ages as they seek to reflect on their own relationship to various changes they may be facing.

Working psychodynamically with couples is an important part of my work. Here, the relationship itself becomes the client and I will work with the couple to examine what each partner brings to the experience of the relationship. By exploring feelings and anxieties within the relationship, more sense can be made of the present, and couples can become better equipped to manage their future relationship.

Following training with the Sandi Richman organisation, I have also been using EMDR in my work, either as a discrete treatment to deal with trauma, or as a way of intervening in the therapeutic process. Please feel free to make an enquiry if you think this might be of help to you.

As a psychodynamic psychotherapist I seek to make use of clients’ conscious and unconscious thoughts - as well as their relationship with the past - to help to understand their behaviour in the present. Crucial to this process is the relationship between client and therapist, and the building of a supportive, secure and well-boundaried relationship is significant to any progress in the counselling room. Once the therapeutic relationship is established, client and therapist can work together to reflect on resistances, coping methods, ideas about the self, and other thoughts and practices internalised by the clients during their developing years.

I usually work with individual clients over a longer term.

Why would you come to counselling?

There are many reasons for someone choosing to come to counselling.  It may be you are facing some personal crisis; or maybe you want to understand yourself better; perhaps you want to break habits of repeated, sometimes destructive, behaviours; or maybe you just want some space to try to understand your relationship with the world around you - perhaps to come to terms with some significant life event. Counselling will provide you with the space and focus to explore these personal reflections in a confidential, non-judgemental and creative space.

My fees start at £50.00 for individual clients and £60.00 for couples, although I do reserve some spaces for clients of limited income who want access to low-cost therapy. Please enquire for further details.