Dr Zarina Prayag

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In private practice, I work with both adults and children (14+ years).  All appointments are online video sessions via Zoom or other platforms.

Recent client testimonials:

February 2022: "I have had a great experience in my sessions with Dr Prayag. She is very welcoming and friendly, extremely professional and a pleasure to work with. The sessions with Dr Prayag were key to improve my mental well-being and provide direction in my private and professional life. I can highly recommend her".

February 2022: "Zarina has been incredibly helpful treating my son for his OCD; she has been flexible in organising online sessions around his other commitments and has really developed a supportive and therapeutic relationship with him, listening to his concerns and working together on tackling his condition at his pace with encouragement and good humour. He has progressed immensely and is in a very different place now to a year ago. She has also supported us as a family in working towards common goals and learning about the condition and is always very prompt with emails and advice as needed. We are very grateful for her care and would wholeheartedly recommend her as an experienced and expert therapist."

February 2022: "Zarina takes great care to make her clients feel heard. She is sensitive in dealing with tougher issues and allows her clients to follow their emotional journey."

February 2022: "I consider myself very fortunate in having Zarina as my therapist. She is very knowledgeable and experienced and she has taken great care in discovering the nature of my illness. This has enabled her to devise techniques which have been of great help. Her empathy and gentle honesty engender great confidence. As well as being a very good listener Zarina is very positive so treatment sessions always leave you feeling better."

April 2021: "Zarina came into my life at a time where I couldn't see the wood through the trees. She helped me to sort through my emotions and slowly build foundations to be able to live my life the way I wanted to. I have come such a long way through our time together and I would not be where I am now without her help and support. I felt like I could say anything at all without being judged, and that in itself is an incredible feeling. Zarina is kind, easy to talk to and is incredibly skilled at what she does".

January 2021: "Zarina has been totally amazing in helping my teenage son cope with his OCD. She made him feel totally at ease, and comfortable to share the feelings and compulsions that had started to severely affect his daily life and that of our whole family. She gave him the mechanisms to cope and overcome many of the ‘checking compulsions’ he had, whilst also being a huge support to me, as his mum. Zarina’s warm nature and gentle assurance have given my son a new found confidence in managing his disorder. We can’t recommend her highly enough, and have nothing but thanks and gratitude for all her help and support".

January 2021: "Zarina put me at ease from the start with her calm and reassuring manner. She listened to my concerns about my daughter and provided clear and actionable tools that I could take forward. I would not hesitate to recommend her as she is clearly experienced and really knows her craft. Thank you".

December 2020: "Dr Zarina Prayag is so lovely to work with, she helped my daughter settle in to the sessions so easily and I would not hesitate to recommend her. She has given us such great tools to help going forward and I have definitely seen an improvement in my daughter's anxieties. We would definitely go back to her in the future".

December 2020: "Dr Zarina has helped me so much. She makes you feel as if you are talking to a friend. She really has helped me in so many ways through some of the most difficult times in my life. It has been a tough road but definitely can see a huge improvement and that's all thanks to Dr Zarina".

October 2020: "I am so happy and grateful we found Zarina to support our son. Zarina is caring and patient. We received feedback after each session, she listened to our concerns as parents and involved us as much as and whenever possible. We found Zarina to be approachable which was really helpful. Within a very short period of time she built a high level of trust in our son who opened up to her and we have noticed such a positive change in him. Friends and relatives were also surprised to notice the change in our son's confidence. Thank you Zarina for all your help".

May 2020: "Since January, Zarina has been working with my son to help him understand and overcome his OCD. When we started I really didn’t think it would make much difference, but Zarina has worked absolute wonders. She has a wonderfully warm manner, which put my son at ease and he happily opened up to her.... not something he does easily. She worked at his pace, never rushing him and really helping him understand what OCD is and more importantly got to the crux of why and when it started to affect him. 4 months on and our home life has changed immensely. My son is a different child now.... his OCD is no longer an issue that overwhelms him. He’s in control of it now.... he’s more relaxed, happier and my family and I can’t speak highly enough of Zarina and her wonderful treatment. We will be forever grateful".

About me:

I am a Clinical Psychologist, registered with the HCPC, with over 10 years’ experience working with adults, children and adolescents, couples and families across different services in the NHS. I have experience of working with clients with a range of difficulties, from mild to severe, including depression, low mood, self-esteem issues, worry, anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, phobias, relationship issues, trauma, psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar affective disorder. I also have experience and skills working with clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome, and I am able to adapt the therapy approach to meet any particular needs a client may have.

As a Clinical Psychologist, I am trained in using a variety of therapeutic models. I often use an integrative approach to ensure therapy is best suited to my clients’ individual needs and tailored to them as a person. I primarily use Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Mindfulness.

I understand that attending therapy can be daunting and I therefore aim to create a relaxed and safe space for my clients by being warm, empathic and non-judgmental. It is important that my clients feel comfortable to explore and work on things they might be finding difficult, or feel are holding them back in life. Equally important is helping my clients to identify their strengths and values, to help you achieve your personal goals and move forwards.

Prior to private practice, I worked as a Senior Clinical Psychologist specialising in working with clients who have experienced a first episode of psychosis, in an Early Intervention in Psychosis service at the Maudsley Hospital. Before this, I worked in both adult and child and adolescent mental health services in the NHS, including managing a specialist mental health team in South East London for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Learning Disabilities.