Rex Woodhouse

Is your sense of confidence fragile? Are anxiety and worry running your life? Are you irritable or extra sensitive? Are you struggling to take risks? Maybe something shocking or traumatic has happened.

We all bring something unique into therapy, but the uncomfortable feelings we all experience are universal. Whatever the reason(s) might be, as an accredited NCPS Cognitive and Behavioral Therapist, I will bring the necessary tools and skills to help you unthread and confront their challenges. The space I create will be warm, compassionate, and thoughtful to reflect in. I like to form strong relationships with the people I work with and enjoy seeing the progress they make.

Why CBT?

It’s a great type of psychotherapy due to its ability to understand and overcome a broad range of emotional challenges. At its core, it is learning and developing psychological flexibility. An approach that moves with and directs the flow of life rather than pushes against or submits to it. For example, rather than being drawn into pervasive worrying about the future, it might help us to drop the struggle and focus on what is most helpful or important to us right now. Through nurturing this approach, we can come closer to cultivating the fulfilment, connection, and success that we want in life.

What things can I bring to therapy?

Some people might have an idea of what's wrong, "I just can't get out of these low moods," "I get so overwhelmed when I say a silly comment in a social setting," or "I'm struggling to deal with the pressure I'm under at work (or home/socially)," "I just get so irritated when my partner doesn't listen, and my reactions to it aren't normal," Others might want to be preventative, curious to learn skills and tools for better emotional resiliency. Or, maybe some are sensing a general lack of meaning, purpose, or satisfaction in their lives.

Some common themes I work with:

Anxiety, worry, and seeking reassurance: Often, in order to overcome the very thing we fear, we must face it. Anxiety drives us to minimise the feeling by worrying, seeking constant reassurance, or actively avoiding the situation. Although this brings an immediate sense of relief, it's only temporary because it reinforces the belief you can’t cope unless you worry, avoid, or constantly seek reassurance. This therefore worsens the initial fear. Leading to a vicious cycle that is likely to result in further avoidance. In therapy, we learn to break the cycle by challenging the unhelpful thinking and behaviour, tolerating the anxiety, and allowing it to wash over us. Often, in time, we can make better choices by leaning into our fears, and showing ourselves we can cope and so our self belief grows.

Self-defeating & harsh inner voice: A lot of the time, we are our own worst enemy. Berating ourselves for having said that silly comment in front of new colleagues, or telling ourselves we should be performing better than we are. Maybe there was a silly comment, or you are capable of doing better, but where does it leave us by berating ourselves for it? In therapy, we learn to build an assertive and compassionate voice, that is wise and courageous in its kindness. It enables us to safely evaluate our setbacks, take learnings, and move on without dragging our self-worth through emotional turmoil.

Compare & despair: It is within our nature to compare ourselves to our environment. However, its important to notice when we are despairing if we fall short. For example, a peer following a similar career path gets promoted, and we don’t. Our thoughts can become self defeating and doubtful of ever succeeding. A particularly unhelpful approach to getting more of what you want. In therapy, we will understand the origins of such thoughts and challenge them, weakening their hold. Which in turn, opens up the space for more helpful, problem solving thinking and behaviour.

Relationships – intimate, family, social, and work: Relationships also come in many forms, and serve an important part to our existence. Learning to effectively manage them is challenging. From a foundational point of view, we encourage people to be there for themselves first most of the time, but not all of the time. It’s important we energise ourselves and act in self-interest in order to feed our self-belief. But, it’s essential this is pursued with flexibility, allowing the space for others’ joys and difficulties. In therapy, we learn what these boundaries are for you and how to communicate them effectively to get your needs met.

More themes...

• Stress
• Anxiety (Worry/dread/performance/social anxiety)
• Depression (Hopeless/helpless/failure/loss)
• low self-confidence/self-defeating/low self-esteem/harsh inner voice
• Loss of meaning, purpose, and satisfaction/feeling numb
• Struggles with body image/relationship to food/disordered eating
• Sensitivity/irritability/frustration/anger
• Relationship difficulties/endings
• Grief (death, loss of a relationship or opportunity)
• Chronic illness management
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)/Phobias/panic attacks

What if we could learn to hold our desires and fears with a degree of lightness or softness? By making room for both joy and difficulty without holding on to it, we can begin to drop the struggle and choose to do things differently for our longer-term benefit. 

If any of this resonates with you or you'd like to learn more, don't hesitate to get in touch to book an intro call.

I look forward to connecting.

£95 for in-person

£75 for online 

For more information, please also view:

My website rex-therapy.com, or

My profile at Barnsbury Therapy Rooms: https://barnsburytherapyrooms.com/therapists-north-london/cbt-therapy-in-islington-with-rex-woodhouse/

My profile at City Therapy Rooms:            https://citytherapyrooms.co.uk/therapists-city-of-london/cbt-therapy-with-rex-woodhouse/