Nikolaos Kartsanis

Being human is hard, but you don't have to go it alone. I will give you the time and space to explore the issues you face at a pace which is comfortable for you, to help you live a life more satisfying, meaningful, and free. I can help you understand yourself better, be more present and more purposeful in your life, and improve your relationship with yourself and others.

A lot of my clients are post-graduate students or work in research in academia or various industries, but I have worked with people from diverse backgrounds on a variety of issues. Personally, I've always had a particular interest in self-esteem, anxiety and related issues, such as procrastination and perfectionism — both of which might feel familiar to you, especially if you're a student or you work with deadlines.

I am also passionate about the intersection of video games and well-being, more from a boosting perspective (i.e. how playing and engaging with video games can enhance and support well-being), rather than a pathologising perspective (i.e. how they can harm you). Exploring how we relate to our game selves or other characters in fiction, and that which resonates with us, could offer creative ways of gaining a deeper understanding of ourselves or of exploring new ways of being. If you play video games, I may draw on relevant psychological research, use metaphors from games or explore your engagement with the medium — or other media and artforms you are passionate about — if we both think this is helpful. 

I take a holistic approach to therapy, and my theoretical orientation is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). That includes models such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). 

I will tailor my approach to you, and we will explore personal, psychological, social/cultural, and biological factors and their role in understanding you as an individual. This will serve to help you understand where you are coming from, where you are right now, and how to empower you to choose the paths you can take into the future.

I work exclusively online. This allows me to be more flexible and accessible to people beyond my local area, or to people who may otherwise find it difficult to commute or travel. It also helps lower the carbon footprint of my practice, which is important to me.

Video sessions are conducted through secure platforms: Jitsi Meet, Signal or Teams. Email communication is conducted through Proton Mail, a secure end-to-end encrypted email service. These services and platforms are easy to use, but if you have any questions about the technical stuff, don’t hesitate to ask, I’d be happy to provide more information and help.

Taking the first step

Finding a therapist who is a good fit for you is really important, but it can also feel like a daunting task. You may have scrolled through dozens of profiles already, or just feel overwhelmed and unsure about what to do. I've also been a client, and it's been hard for me, too. If you've read this far, I want you to know that I really appreciate your time and attention.

If you've found something on my profile that's resonated with you and you're interested in learning more about my services, you may want to read on to get a sense of what my approach is like. When you’re ready, you can contact me through this website form to arrange a 15-minute video conversation, to see if we might be a good fit to work together and to answer any questions you might have. I try to reply within 48 hours, unless I'm on holiday (my profile will show the dates I'm away, in that case). If you've not heard back from me for over 2-3 days, make sure to check your spam folder, in case your spam filters have overreacted.

What is CBT and how does it work?

CBT is based on the idea that how we think affects how we feel and how we behave, and that all these aspects are interconnected. Therefore, making changes to any of them can affect the rest. That is, changing how we think or how we relate to our thoughts can influence our mood and our behaviour; and making changes in our behaviour can influence how feel and how we think.

CBT is more focused on the here and now rather than the past, as the present is where change can happen. There can also be great value in exploring the past in order to understand and learn from it. So even though we’ll be focusing a lot on the present, we will pay attention to and discuss the past, if we think it’s relevant and important.

Another characteristic of CBT is that it is as much a talking therapy as it is a doing therapy. What happens between sessions is as important, if not more, than what happens in a session. We may come up with things to try, such as keeping a diary of your thoughts or activities, devise behavioural experiments to test out assumptions or predictions; or I may teach you how to practise relaxation exercises or different ways to relate to your thoughts or to yourself. Other times, the "doing" part between sessions may just be to reflect on what we talked about in the session and see how this new insight feels, if it leads to any new thoughts or perspectives, and what you could do with that. This may be done in a structured way, using tools such as worksheets and exercises, or in a more relaxed conversational way. That will be up to you and what you find more helpful.

CBT tends to be relatively short-term, typically taking up to around 20 sessions, but this may vary a lot depending on what you want to work on. We can either agree up front to a certain number of sessions as a goal to begin with and then review if and how to keep going, or we can leave it open-ended and review your progress and the focus of therapy periodically, to make sure you're getting the most out of it.

If you want to learn some coping skills or want help to face a specific challenge, this may be possible in a few sessions. If, on the other hand, you want to work on issues which may have roots in adverse childhood experiences, on your self-esteem or to explore and get to know yourself better in order to live a more meaningful life, this may take considerably longer.

You may also want to work on multiple things or new goals and topics may emerge as we go along, and the focus of your therapy may evolve over time. With some of my clients, we work on something specific for a few months to a year, and once that is dealt with, they are happy to "graduate" from therapy. Others, after the initial issue is reasonably under control, like to continue therapy on a less frequent schedule (fortnightly to monthly sessions) with a focus which is more about having a CBT-informed supportive relationship within which to explore and work on their relationship with their self, and find more meaning and fulfilment in life.

I can help you gain more clarity about your needs and values. To slow down and pay more attention to your thoughts and emotional or behavioural reactions and patterns, which may be happening automatically or out of habit. To understand what the intentions of these patterns are or what they’re trying to tell you about your life. To understand how you relate and talk to yourself, and to develop a more compassionate voice towards your self. This understanding will then be our guide for helping you to set goals and priorities for your therapy or your life, and for supporting you to work towards them.

• Coping Skills
• Life Transitions
• Procrastination
• Sleep or Insomnia
• Worry

My standard rate is £60/session on weekdays. I have a number of slots on a sliding scale available for people who are full-time students, unemployed or on benefits, or struggling financially. I also have a small number of slots on Saturday for £70/session (or +£10 the weekday rate, for concessionary rates).

If you're interested, don't hesitate to email me and ask me more about, as the availability of lower priced slots may fluctuate over time.

What to expect when you contact me

After our initial contact, we'll agree to an appointment for an introductory call. This usually lasts around 15 minutes. It's not a therapy session, rather an opportunity to get a sense of each other and see if it would make sense to work together. There's no obligation to decide on booking a session immediately. If you want to take your time to make up your mind or check out other therapists, too, and then get back to me, you are welcome to do that.

If we agree to work together, I'll send you some starting documents (therapy contract, privacy and communication policy, a form for your details and a well-being questionnaire) to complete prior to the first session.

The first 2-3 sessions will be focused on assessing your situation, history and needs, and then we'll collaboratively start working on what you'd like to achieve and on how to help you towards that.