The Journey of Psychotherapy
The path of psychotherapy is rarely straightforward. It offers a space of care, patience, and support where individuals can begin to find their own way forward. Part of this journey involves discovering what therapy has to offer—from counselling to psychotherapy—and finding the right person to walk alongside them. Psychotherapy can provide support across many areas of life: complex trauma, life transitions, career challenges, neurodiversity, and severe anxiety or depression.
At the heart of therapy lies the relationship itself. Through this connection, exploration and discovery become possible. The process may involve mapping the inner landscape or working with the dynamics of an “inner family” to bring insight into the past, present, and future. A range of approaches can support this journey—active listening, creativity, and relational exploration—always guided by the principles of self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, and self-discovery. It is through self-discovery that genuine recovery and transformation can emerge. Psychotherapy is not about rushing to answers. It is about creating space for growth, acceptance, and change to unfold in their own time.
At the heart of therapy lies the relationship itself. Through this connection, exploration and discovery become possible. The process may involve mapping the inner landscape or working with the dynamics of an “inner family” to bring insight into the past, present, and future. A range of approaches can support this journey—active listening, creativity, and relational exploration—always guided by the principles of self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, and self-discovery. It is through self-discovery that genuine recovery and transformation can emerge. Psychotherapy is not about rushing to answers. It is about creating space for growth, acceptance, and change to unfold in their own time.
Online Therapy
Online therapy can be especially beneficial for those with busy schedules, mobility or health challenges, or who prefer the comfort of their own home. It offers flexibility and privacy, saves time and travel costs, and makes it easier to access the right therapist regardless of location. For many, the familiarity of their own space helps them feel safer and at ease, supporting a more open and consistent therapeutic process.
Face-To-Face Therapy
Face-to-face therapy offers the opportunity to connect more deeply and explore a wider range of approaches, including somatic reflections, mindfulness exercises, and role play through visualisation. Attending sessions in person can also help establish routine, while the journey to and from therapy provides space to prepare beforehand and to decompress afterwards.
Walk-And-Talk Therapy
Walk-and-talk therapy offers a refreshing alternative to traditional sessions, combining physical activity with therapeutic conversation. Walking outdoors can reduce anxiety, enhance mood, and stimulate clearer thinking. The natural environment fosters mindfulness and emotional awareness, while the side-by-side setting often makes it easier to open up. This approach is particularly beneficial for those who find sitting still challenging or who seek a more relaxed, informal setting to explore their thoughts and feelings.
Group Therapy
Group therapy is a supportive space where a small number of people meet regularly with a trained therapist to share experiences, explore personal challenges, and learn from one another. Unlike individual therapy, it offers the unique benefit of connecting with others who may have similar struggles, helping you feel less alone and more understood. Each session may include specific themes, as well as grounding and breathing exercises to help the group decompress collectively.
Through honest conversations, feedback, and mutual support, group therapy can build self-awareness, improve communication skills, foster a sense of belonging, and create opportunities to practice confidence, care, and respect in interactions with others. Additionally, participating in a group setting can be financially beneficial, as it often provides access to professional therapeutic support at a lower cost than individual sessions—all within a safe and confidential environment.
Through honest conversations, feedback, and mutual support, group therapy can build self-awareness, improve communication skills, foster a sense of belonging, and create opportunities to practice confidence, care, and respect in interactions with others. Additionally, participating in a group setting can be financially beneficial, as it often provides access to professional therapeutic support at a lower cost than individual sessions—all within a safe and confidential environment.
Starting Therapy
We begin with a free 20-minute chat to discuss your needs, answer questions, and ensure you feel comfortable taking the next step. This is followed by a one-off 50-minute assessment session, which must be paid in full before the session takes place. After the assessment, we will discuss and agree on the fee and therapy process.
You will receive a written contract outlining ethical boundaries, confidentiality and its limits, safeguarding responsibilities, record-keeping, cancellation policy, fees, payments, and the role of supervision. During this process, we will also explain the difference between short- and long-term therapy, the potential risks and benefits, and your rights to access, update, or end therapy at any time. Our goal is to create a safe, respectful space where your experiences and feelings are held with care.
If you are considered high-risk, we will work together to create a safety plan, and you will be informed about how safeguarding concerns are managed. Confidentiality is always respected, though in certain circumstances—such as risk of serious harm or legal obligations—information may need to be shared. You will also be fully informed about how your personal data is stored in line with GDPR.
Please note that we normally provide therapy for adults (18 years and over) and do not offer family or child therapy. In some cases, therapists may see younger clients (usually 16–17) if they are considered Gillick competent—meaning they have enough maturity to understand the therapy process and consent to it themselves. Parental consent may still be required depending on the circumstance.
You will receive a written contract outlining ethical boundaries, confidentiality and its limits, safeguarding responsibilities, record-keeping, cancellation policy, fees, payments, and the role of supervision. During this process, we will also explain the difference between short- and long-term therapy, the potential risks and benefits, and your rights to access, update, or end therapy at any time. Our goal is to create a safe, respectful space where your experiences and feelings are held with care.
If you are considered high-risk, we will work together to create a safety plan, and you will be informed about how safeguarding concerns are managed. Confidentiality is always respected, though in certain circumstances—such as risk of serious harm or legal obligations—information may need to be shared. You will also be fully informed about how your personal data is stored in line with GDPR.
Please note that we normally provide therapy for adults (18 years and over) and do not offer family or child therapy. In some cases, therapists may see younger clients (usually 16–17) if they are considered Gillick competent—meaning they have enough maturity to understand the therapy process and consent to it themselves. Parental consent may still be required depending on the circumstance.
Types of Psychotherapy and Counselling
Therapy can take many forms, each offering unique methods and perspectives to support personal growth, emotional understanding, and behavioural change. Different approaches focus on thoughts, emotions, behaviours, relationships, or even cultural and bodily experiences, giving clients a variety of ways to explore themselves and their lives.
- Person-Centred Therapy (Rogerian): Focuses on creating a non-judgmental, empathetic environment. The therapist provides unconditional positive regard, allowing clients to explore their feelings and develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.
- Existential Therapy: Explores questions of meaning, freedom, and responsibility. Helps clients confront life’s uncertainties and make authentic choices aligned with their values.
- Gestalt Therapy: Emphasises present-moment awareness and personal responsibility. Uses techniques like role-play and guided visualisation to integrate thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.
- Constructive Therapy: Focuses on understanding and reshaping personal narratives and cognitive frameworks. Encourages clients to build new, adaptive ways of interpreting experiences.
- Psychodynamic Therapy: Explores unconscious patterns, early life experiences, and internal conflicts. Aims to increase insight and resolve unresolved issues affecting current behaviour.
- PBS (Positive Behaviour Support): Often used for behavioural challenges, especially in developmental or neurodiverse contexts. Focuses on understanding triggers, teaching alternative skills, and reinforcing positive behaviours in practical ways.
- Cultural Therapy: Recognises the role of cultural, social, and community contexts in shaping an individual’s experiences. Explores cultural identity, values, and societal influences to support self-understanding, coping strategies, and resilience.
Session Fees
These fees reflect what is generally expected, though they may vary depending on the time of day, availability of
high-demand evening slots, or any agreed concessions. All fees are subject to change, and any adjustments will be discussed in advance.
- One-off assessment – £80
- Evenings in person – £90
- Mornings or afternoons in person – £80
- Online evenings – £80
- Online mornings or afternoons – £70
- Group therapy, face-to-face – £60 (8 people max, subject to Monday and weekend availability)
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Concessions may be offered at times.
Edvard Much
Privacy
We begin with a free consultation to discuss your needs and answer any questions, followed by a one-off initial session. If this feels right, we agree to an initial block of six weekly sessions, with the option to continue weekly on an ongoing basis.
After your first session, you will receive a written contract that sets out our ethical boundaries, confidentiality and its limits, safeguarding responsibilities, record-keeping, cancellation policy, fees, payments, and the role of supervision. We will explain the difference between short- and long-term therapy, the potential risks and benefits, and your rights to access, update, or end therapy at any time.
If you are considered high-risk, we will work together to create a safety plan, and you will be informed of how safeguarding concerns are managed. Confidentiality is respected, but there are circumstances—such as risk of serious harm or legal obligations—where information may need to be shared, usually with your knowledge. You will also be told how your personal data is stored in line with GDPR.Please note that we only provide therapy for adults (18+) and do not offer family or child therapy.
After your first session, you will receive a written contract that sets out our ethical boundaries, confidentiality and its limits, safeguarding responsibilities, record-keeping, cancellation policy, fees, payments, and the role of supervision. We will explain the difference between short- and long-term therapy, the potential risks and benefits, and your rights to access, update, or end therapy at any time.
If you are considered high-risk, we will work together to create a safety plan, and you will be informed of how safeguarding concerns are managed. Confidentiality is respected, but there are circumstances—such as risk of serious harm or legal obligations—where information may need to be shared, usually with your knowledge. You will also be told how your personal data is stored in line with GDPR.Please note that we only provide therapy for adults (18+) and do not offer family or child therapy.
Themes
Therapy provides a safe, supportive space where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, and experiences without judgment. It can help you make sense of difficult emotions, navigate challenging situations, and discover new ways of coping.
Common themes that often arise in therapy include managing anxiety, sadness, or anger; processing past trauma or difficult experiences; exploring relationships and patterns of connection; understanding your sense of self and identity; navigating life transitions or loss; and reflecting on meaning, purpose, and personal growth.
Even if your concerns don’t appear on this list, you are always welcome to bring them forward. The initial assessment is a gentle opportunity to get to know each other, talk about what has brought you to therapy, and consider what might help you most. Together, we can decide on the next steps in a way that feels safe and supportive.
Workplace
Workplace-related difficulties can deeply affect your well-being, often mirroring the complexities of personal relationships. These challenges may stem from various sources, including organisational dynamics, interpersonal conflicts, or personal responses to work environments. Addressing these issues in therapy can lead to meaningful insights and personal growth.
Therapy can help explore and address a range of workplace-related concerns, such as:
- Workplace anxiety and stress
- Career uncertainty and transitions
- Low self-esteem and confidence
- Bullying and harassment
- Addiction and substance use
- Workplace trauma
- Imposter syndrome
- Work-life balance
- Microaggressions
- Bias in the workplace
- Feeling underrepresented or isolated
- Navigating cultural identity at work
Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity is important to understand, as there can be many complexities around being diagnosed—or not. Either way, every individual is met with the same care and respect. Our role is not to diagnose, but to hold and support each person’s journey, helping you find your own understanding of what shapes your identity and experience. In a world often influenced by the idea that doing or achieving defines our worth, perhaps simply being yourself is enough.
Therapy Themes Related to Neurodiversity:
- Masking or camouflaging in daily life
- Sensory overload in different environments
- Executive functioning challenges (e.g., organisation, time management)
- Navigating disclosure and self-advocacy
- Access to support and reasonable adjustments
- Social communication differences and connection
- Burnout from prolonged adaptation or masking
- Misunderstanding or stigma from others
- Identity, self-acceptance, and late diagnosis
- Navigating education, healthcare, or social systems
- Barriers to inclusion and accessibility in everyday life
Trauma
Experiences of trauma can leave lasting impressions on how we see ourselves, others, and the world. These experiences may be sudden or unfold over time, and their impact can be both visible and deeply internal. However it shows up, your experience matters. In therapy, all parts of your story are held with care and without judgment. Our aim is to offer a safe, steady space where you can begin to make sense of what has happened, understand how it continues to affect you, and move at your own pace toward healing and self-understanding. There is no right or wrong way to feel, and you do not have to face it alone.
Themes That Can Be Explored in Therapy:
- Anxiety and stress
- Low mood and depression
- Trauma and difficult past experiences
- Grief and loss
- Relationship difficulties
- Identity and self-concept
- Body image and self-esteem
- Eating issues
- Self-harm
- Suicidal thoughts and feelings
- Addictive behaviours and coping patterns
- Emotional regulation and overwhelm
- Major life transitions or uncertainty
- Sexual abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Spiritual abuse
- Existential questions, meaning, and purpose
Rites of Passage
Throughout life, we all experience moments of transition—times when the old ways of being no longer fit, and something new is beginning to take shape. These transitions, often called rites of passage, can be both exciting and unsettling. In therapy, they are seen as meaningful opportunities for growth and transformation—emotionally, psychologically, and at times spiritually.
This evolution often calls for patience, allowing the process to unfold in its own time, whether it’s a shift happening in the wider landscape of our lives or within parts of ourselves—our inner child, teenager, or adult—that are ready to grow, heal, or take on a new role.
Rites of passage are commonly understood to unfold in three stages: separation (letting go of what was), liminality (being in the “in-between”), and incorporation (integrating the new). These phases can be mirrored in therapy as clients explore endings, dwell in uncertainty, and gradually embody new ways of being.
Alongside these stages, therapy can offer space to explore the themes that emerge during transition. These may include identity shifts, changing relationships, evolving values, or new directions in life. By engaging with these themes consciously, individuals can move through their passages with greater clarity and self-awareness.
Themes That Can Be Explored in Therapy:
- Acknowledge separation — notice what you’re letting go of and the feelings that accompany endings.
- Navigate liminality — find steadiness and support during uncertain or “in-between” phases.
- Integrate change — embody new perspectives, identities, or ways of being.
- Mark transformation — honour personal growth and the significance of this passage.
- Strengthen self-identity — clarify who you are becoming and what truly matters to you.
- Develop resilience — build inner and relational resources to support change.
- Find meaning — reflect on how this rite of passage fits into your wider life story and sense of purpose.
- Explore relational shifts and codependence — examine evolving dynamics in relationships, address patterns of over-responsibility or enmeshment, and foster healthier boundaries.
- Create a positive inner parent — cultivate an inner voice that offers guidance, protection, and encouragement, supporting the growth of other parts of the self.
- Reconnect with inner wisdom — draw on intuition, creativity, or spiritual practices to guide the process.
- Create personal rituals — symbolically mark transitions through meaningful acts or practices that honour change.
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Ivan’s Bio
With over twenty years of experience working in mental health, it is always a genuine privilege to support people in finding the peace they are seeking. With a creative background and a deep interest in the arts, philosophy, and spirituality, I often draw on these as tools to help shape and nurture the person you aspire to become.
My own journey has taken me from growing up in Compton, California, navigating gang culture and overcoming significant obstacles, to building a life in the UK and working with several Fortune 500 companies. Through it all, my guiding principle has been patience — trusting that with time and care, it is possible to move beyond trauma, depression, and the sense of disconnection that can make life feel isolating.
I have extensive experience working in difficult situations and supporting individuals through complex and challenging circumstances. In addition, I have spent over ten years working in the field of neurodiversity, which has deepened my understanding of the many different ways people experience the world. This has strengthened my commitment to creating a therapeutic space that is flexible, respectful, and empowering for each person’s unique needs.
My aim is to provide high-quality, thoughtful care that goes beyond corporate mental health platforms and impersonal apps. Rather than offering inflated promises, I focus on creating a therapeutic space that educates, adapts, and evolves with each client’s unique crossroads. Therapy, in my view, should respond to the shifting landscape of past, present, and future challenges, continually reshaping itself to meet real human needs.
As an integrative therapist, I’m inspired to explore the choices and experiences that make each person’s life unique. We may draw from cultural perspectives, experiment with creative techniques such as roleplay, or focus on balancing inner self-care with outer responsibilities. Every person brings their own wisdom and resilience, often born simply from the act of showing up to life each day.
Therapy can be a safe, non-judgemental space to make sense of the cards life has dealt. My hope is that those who are still suffering may find the capacity to forgive, to accept, and to believe in their own ability to lay down the burdens of emotional pain, anger, and sorrow — at least within the sanctuary of the therapeutic journey towards recovery.
Education
- Masters in Psychotherapy and Counselling, Roehampton University, UK
- Foundation Course in Integrative Counselling, Minster Centre, UK
- Masters in Fine Art, Claremont Graduate University, USA
- Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art, California State University, USA
Supervision
Supervision is offered to students, therapists, or counsellors seeking support in navigating the challenges of training and practice. It provides a space to explore the self in the process of becoming a practitioner, acknowledging that therapy work can often bring unresolved trauma to the surface. Supervision helps manage the rollercoaster of balancing life, internal pressures, imposter syndrome, developing skills, and applying theory to client work.
The aim is to create a reflective and transformative space—turning challenging situations into opportunities to find value and growth. Supervision is designed to provide the right support for fluctuating self-confidence, psychodynamic awareness, and empowering existing strengths, while gently addressing areas for development, whether personal or professional.
Fees for supervision are separate and depend on availability. Most sessions are offered online, and group supervision is generally more cost-effective.
Contact
Email: l.ivancounselling@gmail.com
Phone: Given after initial email
Locations (in person): SE22, SE24, SE11
Counselling Directory: https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellor/ivanlimas
Art Portfolio: https://cargocollective.com/IvanLimas