Dr Philip Simon Glen

I am Simon Glen and I’m a Counselling Psychologist. In my work, I combine the client centred and non-judgemental elements of counselling with the wide evidence base of psychology.

I see my role as being there to work together with you to understand some of the difficulties you are experiencing, to help you draw on the positive resources you already have in life, and to help build some new skills particularly using the  evidenced psychological approach of Compassion Focussed Therapy (a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)).

In my career, I have worked with people facing many different types of challenges in their lives including living with long term health conditions (like cancer, epilepsy, and brain injury). I have worked with people experiencing problems with anxiety, depression, grief, loss, post-traumatic stress and people who have concerns over alcohol use. 

Whatever we are experiencing in our lives, my belief is that we are not broken, we are trying the best we can to cope with circumstances in life that we have not chosen. Our responsibility for facing this begins at this point. In our work I would aim to have you at the centre and work together with you in the here and now, to help you meet your goals for the future.

As a former Counselling Psychologist in Training I am aware of the expenses involved, and so I can offer a discount for Trainees undertaking mandatory therapy as part of their course. I can offer supervision to trainee counsellors and trainee applied psychologists- particularly in the orientations of Person Centred Therapy, and Compassion Focussed Therapy.  Please contact me to discuss your requirements. 

As I work using Compassion Focused Therapy I very often work with people experiencing Shame, Guilt and Self-critical thoughts. This can lead to various types of withdrawal and avoidance- which are sometimes the behaviours we work on reducing. 

I generally take a non-diagnostic approach to the psychological distress we all experience. The format of the directory encourages us as therapists to "tick the boxes" of the different conditions we work with. Our mental wellbeing doesn't easily "fit in a box" though.  I prefer to see us all as individuals trying to cope as best we can with the circumstances of our lives. To paraphrase Gabor Mate and Oprah Winfrey:  It is not “what is wrong with you?”, rather it is “what happened to you?”. 

If you would like a brief phonecall before booking a session this can be arranged. Please contact me by email to organise.

The fees are £85 per 50 minute session. 

Counselling Psychology trainees undertaking mandatory therapy can enquire about a discount to this fee. The concessionary rate is £70 per session.

Supervision is offered at £60 per 50 minute session.

"So we beat on,

Boats against the current,

Borne back ceaselessly

into the past"

F Scott Fitzgerald

This quote from the end of "The Great Gatsby" seems to say something about how our lives can be lived here and now, but can feel like a struggle. And that our lives are informed by the past. They don't need to be defined by what has gone, but they will hold the impression of what happened before in our lives. When I'm working with people I feel that there is usually this dual movement going on- moving against the current into the future, and being pulled back to the past at the same time.