Sonya Landesmann
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I realise that looking for a therapist may have taken you some time after trying to cope with difficult or painful feelings or experiences alone or with family and friends. Seeking therapy is not an easy choice but does offer you the attention of someone who has been trained to listen to you with respect, in a safe, non-judgemental relationship.
Seeking psychotherapy can feel like a big step but can help with feeling out of sorts and not knowing why, feeling depressed, feeling anxious or with relationship difficulties.
I offer psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy / counselling to help people to relate more comfortably to themselves and others. I work with what you bring at your pace. We consider together what is brought by you in a respectful non judgmental way to create meaning from issues that are being experienced so that they are more understandable and manageable. The outcome being that things feel more comfortable.
I offer 50 minute sessions on a weekly basis. This can be once or more often each week but always at the same time. I can offer sessions during the day or evening and together we can find a time to suit you.
I offer a professional, thoughtful and safe space for exploring what is important to you. I work in a way that is warm, open and ready to engage and interact with you while not discriminating against you for who you are, what you bring to therapy or your beliefs. I believe the effects of the external world, and the past, to be important aspects that have made you who you are, and regard this as part of what would be important in your therapy.
Psychoanalytic / psychodynamic therapy or counselling works through the relationship with the therapist so it is important to have someone you feel you can relate to. It is based originally on the work of Freud but has been developed to be relevant to you in today's world over the last 100 years by a large body of work by many other therapists. We would look at how your present experiences link with your past.
I work from consulting rooms in Crouch End N8 (and previously in the City). Both are easily reached by public transport and are accessible if you have mobility issues.
The consulting room in Crouch End is located in a modern health centre, where there is a car park and cafe. It is fully accessible with a lift for anyone for whom stairs are a challenge. The City consulting room is a reasonable journey from Hackney and the East End close to Bank tube and is located on the ground floor of a restored church building offering a waiting area, where you can help yourself to coffee and on a sunny day sit in a pretty courtyard garden.
Both consulting rooms are discreet and safe.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have a first degree in Philosophy with social psychology from Birmingham University.
Before I became a psychotherapist I taught English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in further education colleges and adult education in London. I lived in the Sudan and Mozambique in the 1980's and taught English.
I qualified in intercultural psychoanalytic psychotherapy through University College London and Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre (1995). I am trained in psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy and specialise in how culture effects each of us.
I am seriously committed to my psychotherapy practice and since qualifying have regularly attended conferences and additional continuous professional development and training to deepen and enhance my skills and capacity to help people seeking therapy from me. Examples of the CPD I attend are at the Institute of Group Analysis, The Tavistock Clinic, Tavistock Couples, Institute of Psychoanalysis,The Bowlby Centre and SRF.
I am a member of the Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the NHS.
I have experience of working in GP practices, and in an NHS hospital psychotherapy department, in MIND and in private practice. I have worked with a wide range of people bringing many different issues,problems and experiences. I have worked with people in long term therapy and short term. We could discuss what would be best for you.
I am a management committee member of the separation and reunion forum which is concerned with issues to do with separation and migration and started from a research project into these issues in the Caribbean community in the UK.
I started my training in 1991 and have been UKCP registered since 1998. I abide by the UKCP's code of conduct and ethics. My training was intensive and provided me with the skills necessary to listen with thought and care to what someone seeking my help needs.
Please see my website for further information at slpsychotherpyandcounselling.co.uk
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Issues of race, culture, identity, migration, loss the refugee experience particularly persecution, violence, honour issues.
I work inter-culturally and psychoanalytically. I can offer short term (3-6 months) or long term open ended therapy. It is possible to come once or twice a week.
I have a lot of experience of working with women and women's issues. I have experience of working with people from arts backgrounds.
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 - £85.00
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Fees are individually negotiated when we meet and are dependent on each persons individual situation. I do offer some low fee places for students and anyone in financial difficulty.
Please email me. Or if you supply your phone number and times when it is convenient to have an initial conversation we could then discuss briefly what you are looking for and arrange a time for a first meeting to see if working together would be good and suitable.
The fees people pay ranges between £50 to £85 pounds. Mostly people pay £65.00
Due to personal matters people have sometimes paid more and sometimes,for example, due to being unemployed or a student with no support, paid less.
Missed sessions are charged. This is non negotiable. Sometimes it is possible to rearrange a session if there’s enough notice and space in the week.
When I work
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Further information
I am currently working online or on the phone
After a brief phone call or email exchange I usually offer an initial appointment to see if we feel we can work together. A question people often ask is how long will I need therapy. It is not usually possible to give an answer to this question. Sometimes people need to come for only a few sessions. Sometimes people find that therapy offers them a useful space to think about deeper issues that effect them.
What is important is that you would feel able to talk to me so that we can think about what is best for you.
I work with what you bring so we could agree a short contract of a few weeks or months or we could agree to leave the arrangement open ended.
I offer a therapeutic experience that is very much about you, what you need in a way that will best help you.
My consulting room in Crouch End is on a bus route and is easily reached from Muswell Hill, Finsbury Park, Hornsey, Highgate and surrounding areas.
I have previously worked in a Lombard Street consulting room and people come from the City, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Hackney and other parts of East London.