Lucie Ramet is an experienced Chartered Psychologist and CBT & ACT Therapist offering short- and long-term individual support to adolescents (16+) and adults. She works in English and French.
Shiraz El Showk
As a Training Member of the Association for Group and Individual Psychotherapy (AGIP) and a registered Training member of the UKCP, I am experienced in Psychodynamic counselling and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy work with individuals, on both long and short term basis.
Thad Hickman
I’m an experienced psychotherapeutic counsellor and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). I work long-term with individuals from our Hove and Lewes practices.
David Keighley
I am a BACP-accredited psychotherapist offering short and long term therapy to individuals and couples using a variety of techniques such as EMDR, CBT and Schema Therapy. I am also a trained clinical supervisor.
Chris Horton
Chris is a registered member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and a psychotherapeutic counsellor with experience in a diverse range of occupational settings. He works with individual adults in private practice.
Leadership and Executive Coaching with Sam Jahara
Sam is a Tavistock Institute certified coach offering leadership and executive coaching. Her approach is informed by a background of nearly 20 years in the field of psychotherapy and mental health, combined with a special interest in business and the psychology of organisational dynamics. Sam’s background includes working abroad in large corporations and multi-lingual teams as well as in the public and third sectors in the UK. Sam is one of the founding partners of Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy.
As a coach and consultant, Sam is informed by contemporary relational and psychodynamic theories in the field of psychotherapy and how they apply to understanding unconscious dynamics in the workplace.
She coaches individuals by first understanding their challenges and areas of aspiration and growth, and then exploring together some of the barriers to achieving their desired goals. Her approach is facilitative and exploratory, but also focused on achieving the best result for her clients. This entails a sensitivity to knowing when to direct, manage, facilitate, educate or simply listen. Her aim is to help individuals and organisations see what can be achieved when they tap into their potential.
Types of Situations where Executive Coaching Works:
Coaching applies to individuals and organisations across all sectors. Some of the areas coaching can focus on include:
- Understanding and reducing stress at work
- Career development or change in career direction
- Developing and improving interpersonal and communication skills
- Improving work relationships
- Managing teams
- Understanding workplace dynamics
- Managing and setting boundaries
- Achieving a better work-life balance
- Becoming a better leader
Coaching and consultancy will also help you:
- Increase self-awareness and self-confidence
- Achieve personal balance
- Improve organisational skills
- Coach and mentor direct reports
- Manage conflict
- Build and maintain peer networks
These are general issues that coaching can assist you with. However, a coaching programme is always tailored to individual needs and circumstances.
A Psychological, Systemic and Multi-Cultural Approach to Coaching
Informed by her personal experiences of growing up in South America and living and working in different countries, Sam brings a multi-cultural and multi-lingual perspective to her coaching practice, with an understanding of the challenges and rewards of working across cultures and with international teams.
With a deep understanding of psychological concepts and theory, combined with many years of clinical experience, Sam offers a sophisticated approach to her coaching work, which entails being comfortable with the complexity of how human beings relate to self and others, in work and life.
Finally, she work in a systemic way, which means understanding how an individual’s role fits into an organisational system and culture. This is a helpful and less isolating perspective, which can bring more clarity to any decision-making process and help place personal challenges within a larger context.
Academic and Professional Training
- Certificate in Coaching for Leadership – Psychodynamic Approaches: Tavistock Institute of Group Relations
- Diploma in Relational Supervision – UKCP registered clinical superviser
- MSc in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy (Distinction) – Metanoia Institute
- Certification as a Transactional Analysis Psychotherapist (CTA)
- BA (Hons) in Counselling (First)
Sam attends to her continuing professional development through reading, peer support groups, supervision, professional development courses, and conferences. In addition to being a UKCP registered psychotherapist, Sam is also a member of OPUS.
Client feedback:
Focusing on work-related issues explored within the confidential setting of an external coaching relationship, I have found my executive coaching sessions with Sam to have a hugely positive impact on my successful performance in my work role, and they have been a key driver in me maintaining and modelling positive workplace wellbeing strategies.
To date, the topics I have addressed in my coaching sessions which have directly benefited and informed my work include the following:
- Establishing boundaries and positive work strategies in my role
- Maintaining healthy power dynamics in line management relationships and consciously creating adult to adult working relationships
- Exploring strategies to challenge my unhelpful default behaviour patterns (e.g. people-pleasing, poor work/life boundaries, perfectionism)
- Exploring strategies for dealing with workload overwhelm
- Responding constructively to negativity from a direct report
- Managing the impact on direct reports of organisational and personal wellbeing challenges
EJ, Director of Services for a large UK charity
I found my sessions with Sam incredibly useful, we were able to take a particular issue and make sense of the dynamic with reference to my history. I came away from my sessions feeling replenished and clearer in my thinking and able to apply myself at work far more effectively.
LF, Volunteering Manager
Next Steps
After an initial ‘fact finding’ consultation, coach and coach usually agree an initial course of 6 to 10 appointments lasting 60-90 minutes each. The frequency can vary from fortnightly to monthly. Periodic reviews and feedback are used to monitor and track the client’s progress. The total duration of the work can last from several sessions to several months or even years, depending on the client’s circumstances, need and type of coaching work involved.
Articles
Executive Coaching, Psychotherapy or both?
To find out more about executive coaching, please get in touch with me via the form below.
Therapy for Divorce or Separation
When couples think about coming to psychotherapy or counselling together, it is either to work through issues in a relationship, or to work out whether the relationship can continue. Therefore, what is the purpose of entering into a process of therapy when the decision has been made to end a relationship?
How is Therapy to Divorce or Separate different to Marriage Counselling?
The fundamental premise of marriage counselling is to work with a couple towards establishing whether the relationship can continue or not – what do both parties want? From there, specific tasks are identified which the psychotherapist and couple hold together and work towards. Clearly therefore, there is cross-over between the two approaches and it is possible that couple therapy becomes therapy to help the couple separate and divorce, however, therapy to divorce or separate takes the premise that the couple are going to part ways and focuses on facilitating this process.
How can Therapy to Separate or Divorce help us?
For a couple contemplating either separating or divorcing, the pressures from multiple angles can be enormous and can, in turn, lead to further conflict and friction between the couple.
Separation or divorce has an enormous emotional impact on the couple as well as directly on their children and indirectly on family and friends. It introduces upheaval across the board with changes not only in living arrangements, but also in lifestyle for all concerned (including children).
Often when couples decide to separate or divorce, they are not ‘on the same page’. For example the decision to split may be instigated by only one member of the couple, or, if mutually agreed, each member of the couple will be undergoing their own process of coming to terms with the inherent loss of the relationship.
Therapy for divorce or separation is focused on working with you both to navigate this complex process with specific goals in mind, For example you may wish to work with a skilled therapist to:
- work through and process the loss of the relationship
- agree clear boundaries together as you move from being a couple towards separation
- work on how you will co-parent together
Therapy for divorce or separation is not a mediation process and should not be used to agree financial settlements.
Co-parenting
When a couple have children, the process of divorce or separation can be particularly painful and complex. As a rule, no child wants their parents to split up and research has shown that the effects of a ‘bad’ or acrimonious divorce between two parents can be more damaging and traumatic than a child losing their parent through death. Why is this? When a child experiences the acrimonious divorce of their parents they will often feel confused and ‘pulled’ between the two parents, potentially even having to take sides. Where the parents remain unable to settle their differences and move on, the child or children will feel unable to express their grief at the end of the parental unit and their love for each parent. With bereavement, as difficult as the loss of a parent most likely is for a child, the grieving process is often facilitated by the remaining surviving parent.
When couples with children decide to divorce the fantasy may be that they will be ‘rid’ of each other. This is fundamentally incorrect and in order to be effective parents both parties must be willing to settle their differences so that they can continue to be present and containing parents for their children. Remember, divorce is hard for children but it is not necessarily traumatic – it depends on HOW the child’s parents bring an end to their relationship that is key.
Endings are not always a bad thing
Whilst leaving a serious relationship of marriage or de facto marriage is not something to take lightly, choosing to remain in the status quo is not healthy or helpful. Where children are involved, both parents are responsible for ensuring that the difficult transition from a ‘nuclear family’ to a different model is managed with a focus on stability and consideration for the children. Divorce can be extremely stressful, painful and can contribute to children’s mental health problems if acrimonious and mismanaged. Children need parents who support, protect and allow them to have their feelings, and this remains the case whether the couple are together or not.
Managed well, whilst painful, a couple can move on from separation and/or divorce. They can mourn the loss of the relationship and both hold onto the aspects of the relationship that were meaningful.
What Happens During Therapy for Divorce or Separation?
Starting therapy can seem overwhelming and may leave you questioning what to expect from your first session and what will be expected of you. While each clinician has their own unique styles and approach, there are some things that are constant that you can count on.
The First Meeting
Before your first meeting, you will be given details on the location and time of the session. Although you may be greeted with feelings of anxiety, you may also feel a sense of relief.
This first meeting is for the purpose of determining whether you and your therapist are a good fit for each other. This is the time to ask any questions you have and work out if you feel comfortable and safe enough to work with them. This is also a time to recognise that at times, divorce and separation therapy may be challenging, but your therapist is there to be your ally through this journey.
It’s important to take your time to reflect on the session and make the decision of whether you want to continue with your therapist. This is a big decision that you want to approach mindfully.
Confidentiality in Therapy
In principle, everything you disclose to your therapist is confidential, meaning it stays between you and them. However, there are rare instances in which the confidentiality may be broken, such as situations where you may be at risk to yourself or others. This is something that will be discussed with you if the topic arises.
The Frame
In the world of counselling and psychotherapy, the frame refers to the physical and contractual boundaries that make therapy possible. Although each therapist has their own variation of the frame, it is there to protect you and the therapy. The frame covers elements such as where you meet, confidentiality, fees, and how your therapist interacts with you.
Starting therapy means starting a special relationship with your therapist, and the frame creates boundaries for a safe space.
Ongoing Sessions
Most people who come to therapy to specifically work on issues around divorce and separation come for a an agreed number of sessions.
Divorce and separation therapy offers a safe and confidential space to explore your mind and make changes to your life. If you’re considering therapy, make sure to take your time, ask questions and reflect on how you feel.
Is Therapy for Divorce or Separation right for us?
If you have made the decision that you are going to separate or divorce, then it could be beneficial on every level to work with a skilled psychotherapist in order to work collaboratively to facilitate this process as smoothly as possible. Where children are involved, parting ways constructively is essential.
Psychotherapy to Separate or Divorce is offered by Dorothea Beech, Gerry Gilmartin and Mark Vahrmeyer,
If you are unsure of the type of therapy you need, you can search for a therapist here.
Georgie Leake
I am a NVR UK accredited Advanced Level NVR Practitioner. I hold a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, a Master of Education (Special Needs and Inclusive Education), a Master of Arts in Social Sciences and QTLS.
David Work
Rebecca Mead
I’m Rebecca Mead and I am an experienced Psychotherapist offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) to individual adults. My background prior to being a psychotherapist is in mental health nursing. I have been working in the NHS for the past 18 years, and continue to do so.
Susanna Petitpierre
I am an experienced psychotherapist and registered member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) providing individuals and couples long and short term psychotherapy. My approach is grounded in existential therapy. I work relationally and I am interested in how clients make sense of their unique embodied lived experience rather than following a rigid structure.
Dorothea Beech
I am a UKCP registered Group Analyst, full member of the Institute of Group Analysis and a Training Group Analyst. My work in psychodynamic psychotherapy spans 20 years in the NHS and for the last 10 years overseas in South Africa.
Claire Barnes
I am an experienced UKCP registered psychotherapist and group analyst. I offer psychodynamic counselling and analytic psychotherapy, and work long-term and short-term with individuals. I also offer group psychotherapy at the practice.
Dr Simon Cassar
I am a UKCP-registered integrative existential psychotherapist with extensive experience in delivering long and short term psychotherapy to individuals.
Gerry Gilmartin
I am Gerry Gilmartin and I am an accredited, registered, and experienced psychotherapeutic counsellor and have been working in the field of physical and mental health and well being for twenty years.