Name: Luke Row
Address: Croydon, Surrey, CR0, GB
Telephone: +447423298477
Price range: £70.00 - £100.00

About me

I didn't come to psychotherapy through a tidy academic route. I came to it because my own life fell apart, and putting it back together meant confronting things I'd spent years avoiding. That process of rebuilding, slow and uncomfortable as it was, is what convinced me this work matters.

For a long time I was very good at appearing fine. I managed other people's feelings, kept myself hidden behind what felt like a workable version of who I was supposed to be, and carried on until I couldn't. When that arrangement finally collapsed, it was thorough. There was no pretending it hadn't happened.

What I discovered in the aftermath, first as someone in therapy and later as a practitioner, is that the defences we build to survive early life tend to outlive their usefulness. They become the very things that keep us stuck. Understanding that, not just intellectually but in the body and in relationship, changed everything for me.

I trained at the University of Greenwich and have been practising as a psychodynamic therapist for over a decade. I work with individuals and couples, and I bring a directness to the work that my clients tend to value. I'm not interested in polite conversation. I'm interested in what is actually going on.

I believe therapists should know what it's like to sit in the other chair. I've done that work myself, and I continue to do it. That isn't a footnote to my practice. It's central to it.

How I work
I work psychodynamically. Symptoms matter, but I'm also interested in the patterns underneath them, particularly the ones you developed early in life that now shape how you relate to others, how you cope under pressure, and what you do when closeness feels threatening.

Sessions are weekly, 50 minutes, at the same time each week. That regularity isn't just scheduling. It creates a reliable space, and reliability is what allows people to bring the things they haven't been able to say elsewhere.

I won't give you worksheets or techniques. What we do instead is talk honestly about what's happening in your life, in your relationships, and between us in the room. The patterns that show up outside therapy will often show up between us too. That gives us something live to think about together, rather than another explanation of something happening somewhere else.

Couples therapy
In couple psychotherapy, the relationship itself is the focus of the work. We pay attention to what happens between you: the exchanges that seem to repeat, what each of you does when closeness becomes difficult, and how two different histories meet inside one relationship.

Sometimes couples arrive in constant conflict. Others have become distant and stopped expecting much from one another. Some are trying to understand whether the relationship can continue. The work begins with what's happening between the two of you now.

I’m currently undertaking the Advanced Standing training in Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy at Tavistock Relationships and am a Trainee Member of the British Psychoanalytic Council.

Couple sessions are weekly and 50 minutes. Both partners need to be involved from the outset, and I don't hold separate communication with one partner about the other.

Training, qualifications & experience

Practice Experience

Private Practice (2017 - )
Sutton Counselling (2013-2017)
Samaritans (2012-2014)

Qualifications

Advanced Training in Couple Psychotherapy, Tavistock Relationships
BA (Hons) Counselling Studies (First Class), 2023
Higher Education Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling, 2015

Professional Memberships

Registered Member, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP)
Trainee Member, British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)

Professional Standards

I’m in psychoanalytic therapy three times a week and meet regularly with a clinical supervisor. This work depends on being able to think honestly about what happens in the room, including what I bring into it.

Qualifications and theory matter. But therapy ultimately happens in relationship, and part of my responsibility is continuing to examine my own responses, assumptions, and blind spots within that work.