Zak Hulstrom

Hi, I'm Zak (he/him). I’m a qualified counsellor and I’m here to support you with whatever you’re going through. 

I’d like to tell you a bit about myself and how I work with clients, so that you have a sense of what therapy would be like with me.

In our sessions, you might hear me ask about your experience growing up because patterns of thinking and behaving can be created when we’re young. As children, we rely so much on our parents to survive that we can twist and contort ourselves to earn their love, but then we become adults and sometimes those patterns are still there. We can look at these patterns together so that you might have more of a say about how much they affect your life.

You might also hear me ask about what’s happening in your body. Often, we can feel or sense things that we don’t have the words for because our bodies are trying to communicate something. If we stop and listen to these signals, we can learn about how we really feel. Words can also get in the way of expressing ourselves, especially if we don’t have a language for our emotional landscape. Paying attention to our gestures, sensations and body movements can reveal important information about what’s happening – right now – that we might not even be aware of.

These are just some of the many ways our conversations could go.

I value the diversity in us all, whether that’s to do with your race, ethnicity and the colour of your skin, gender or sexuality, age, religious or political belief, disability - to name a few. I have an LGBTQ-affirmative and an anti-racist approach. These affect all people because each of us are diverse in our own ways, and it’s by appreciating these differences that we might learn to be more compassionate to ourselves and others.

I am particularly interested in supporting male clients, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ community and ethnic minorities.

My standard rate is £65 (Stroud) and £75 (London) with some concessionary rates available. Please ask if you need a concessionary rate.