Paul Morrison BA (Hons) UKCP Reg

Consulting Rooms (by appointment)
35 Dury Road | Barnet | Hertfordshire | EN5 5PU | UK

General Availability

Weekday Daytimes, Weekday Evenings

UKCP Reg Psychotherapist

I provide Face to Face Counselling and Psychotherapy in Barnet

I offer fees on a sliding scale depending on your financial situation (no proof required).
Individuals: first session set at £55.50, subsequent appointments between £48.00 and £63.00 - 50 minutes.
Couples: first session set at £65.50, subsequent appointments between £58.00 and £73.00 - 50 minutes.
Families: first session set at £65.50, subsequent appointments between £58.00 and £73.00 - 50 minutes.
Approximate length of therapy: short term from 6 to 10 sessions or ongoing
Languages: English, French

I provide Telephone Counselling

Fee: Individuals £60.00

Approximate length of one Telephone appointment: 50 minutes
Approximate length of Telephone Counselling: brief (six sessions) or long term as appropriate.
Languages: English

I offer Private Counselling and Psychotherapy Services for these Issues

Abuse, Addictions, Adolescence, Alcohol Dependence, Anger, Anxiety, Assertiveness, Bereavement, Bullying, Cancer, Childhood Issues, Codependency, Couple Relationships, Creativity, Cultural Issues, Depression, Disability, Divorce, Dyslexia, Exile Issues, Faith Issues, Fear, Gay Issues, Grief, HIV and AIDS, Identity, Impotency, Infertility, Lack of Meaning in Life, Loneliness, Loss, Low Self Esteem, Marriage (Marital Relations), Men's Issues, Midlife Crisis, Mixed Race Issues, Obsessions, Panic Attacks, Parenting, Personal Growth, Personal Relationships, Personality Difficulties, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Pregnancy, Psychosexual Issues, Same Sex Relationships, Self Development, Self Harm, Sexual Abuse, Sexuality, Sleep Problems, Social Phobia, Spirituality, Stress, Suicidal Thoughts, Transgender Issues, Transitions, Trauma, Workplace Issues and Work Relationship Problems

My Counselling and Psychotherapy Therapeutic Approaches

Eclectic Therapy, Existential Therapy, Humanistic Therapy, Integrative Therapy, Relational Therapy, Transpersonal Therapy

Gender

Male

Clinical Experience in Counselling and Psychotherapy

I am a UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) Registered Psychotherapist. I have been working as a qualified psychotherapist for fifteen years. Life is tricky. We think we have it taped. Then we find ourselves hit by a new crisis or challenge and can’t access the resources – mental, emotional or spiritual – to deal with it. We flounder, get stuck, or fall back on old self-defeating patterns. We might want to turn to help from our nearest and dearest, only to find that we experience them as part of the problem. Or that we don’t have a language to talk with them about what’s going on with us. Or discover that we don’t indeed have the near and dear people in our lives that we once did, or thought we did. This is how I came to psychotherapy myself many years ago. I watched a work colleague self-destruct on drink and drugs over a period; after he died I couldn’t feel what I felt I ought to feel. I lacked an authentic response to what had happened. I was angry at him, and didn’t know it. I shut down instead. Such crises are what bring most people into psychotherapy. The prompt can be a bereavement, the loss of a job, a relationship crisis, recognising an addiction, or plain loneliness or unhappiness. The common thread is that we are looking to find some relief or resolution, and we need help in unlocking our own resources; our own tools for change and healing, for making a better life. I was amazed to find that there were simple yet sophisticated approaches that helped me know myself better, and deeper; and people whom I could learn from who used these approaches respectfully and who honoured my own growing self-understanding. I learnt that it was up to me what I made of therapy. It wasn't something that was done to me. I could allow more of my own feelings. And I also had more choice about when to contain them. My relationships got better, and more real.

What to Expect during Counselling and Psychotherapy

I believe in keeping things clear and simple. Life is complex and mysterious enough without adding layers of jargon and mystification.

At the same time psychotherapy is a professional discipline with its own history, language and traditions, as well as, thankfully these days, a strong ethical code.

I was trained as an integrative psychotherapist, which means recognising the strengths and weaknesses of both the psycho-analytic and humanistic movements, and drawing on the best each have to offer.

The analytic tradition encourages me to be curious about events and patterns formed in early infancy and childhood, when we are most impressionable. It encourages me to look for how those patterns play themselves out in the client’s attitude to me as therapist. In turn that will be an indication of how those patterns may play themselves out in the wider world.

The humanistic current tells us that traumatic memories and habits we carry from the past are not just ‘mental’ constructs. They are embodied in our musculature, in the way we have come to carry ourselves physically, in response to the original insult to our system. Humanistic psychotherapists are particularly interested in a model of healing and growth, not over-dwelling on the past but focusing on accepting as ourselves as we are; being compassionate to ourselves as a platform to organise new behaviours, and expand into the future. In this last respect there is some cross-over with the now-fashionable behaviour therapies, like CBT.

If I had to label myself now it would be as a formative psychotherapist. I’m interested in what’s forming in us, and how we can shape who we are becoming.

Finally humanistic psychotherapists emphasize the here and now meeting between equals, both of whom have something to learn from the encounter. We believe the quality and authenticity of the relationship we have our clients to be paramount.

I’m glad to see that there is a growing convergence in theory and practice between these once-polarised ways of looking at people.

I don’t differentiate between psychotherapy and counselling. The latter tends to be briefer and single-issue focused. But the fundamental approach remains the same.

We start with an assessment session, charged at the normal rate, at the end of which I will tell you whether I think I can help you, and you can tell me whether you want to continue. I may refer you on to someone who I think can help you better than I can.

I like to see people weekly at first. There is no fixed time period for therapy or counselling. Some people get what they came for in a few sessions. Others require ongoing support over a period of years.

Everything you say to me will be kept strictly confidential. The only place I will talk about you will be in my own supervision, itself a confidential arena. There I receive support so as to make sure that my own issues don’t intrude into the work that I am doing with you.

I will not conduct the session if you have consumed alcohol or recreational drugs within 24 hours of the start.

I have long been interested in issues of masculinity and have run groups for men over many years. I have also run a long-term group exploring issues of Jewish identity.

Clinical Qualifications in Counselling and Psychotherapy

I completed a formal psychotherapy qualification, at Spectrum, a centre for humanistic and integrative psychotherapy in London. I participate in courses for my own continuing development and find that the excitement of new learning is ongoing, from teachers, clients, and life itself.

Additional Information

I find most people need to first and foremost to be listened to and their difficulties - including their self-defeating behaviours - recognised and compassionately acknowledged. Sometimes they need education - to learn new skills, new ways of looking at themselves and others. Often to learn to regard themselves more kindly.

Therapy can be joyous and enlightening, as well as challenging and painful. I don’t believe in ‘cure’. But my experience is that psychotherapy can help us to heal past hurts and lead fuller, richer and more satisfying lives; to be in charge of ourselves and our experience, and be both more reflective and more effective in the world.

I wish you well on your journey.

If you have a question not answered on my web profile, please contact me via the green Contact Me button.

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Consulting Rooms (by appointment)
35 Dury Road | Barnet | Hertfordshire | EN5 5PU | UK

My Consulting Address is in easy reach of: Monken Hadley, High Barnet, Barnet, New Barnet, Arkley, East Barnet, Potters Bar, Totteridge, Cockfosters, Well End, Whetstone, Ridge, Oakleigh Park, South Mimms, Woodside Park, Borehamwood, Botany Bay, Northaw, Southgate, Friern Barnet

Nearest Train Stations: Hadley Wood, New Barnet, Oakleigh Park, Potters Bar, Elstree & Borehamwood, Brookmans Park, Crews Hill, Mill Hill Broadway, New Southgate, Gordon Hill

Nearest London Underground Tube Stations: High Barnet, Cockfosters, Totteridge & Whetstone, Oakwood, Woodside Park

Wheelchair access: Yes