Alex Monk

I have a private psychotherapy practice and am a full clinical member of UKCP as a psychotherapist  HCPC registered art therapist, EMDR therapist and member of the EMDR association UK. I am based in Hackney, East London and online.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THERAPY?

Psychotherapy can help you re-discover and develop a relationship to parts of yourself that due to painful experiences you perhaps never knew existed before. Emotions are no longer to be frightened of or overwhelmed by; they now become aspects of you that are only to be experienced. This new way of relating to your emotional life can improve your relationship between your instincts and capacity to reflect on your experience (instead of getting 'caught up' in it). Psychotherapy can also increase your resilience to life's everyday problems and become an important source of creativity. Therapy can take time, but its impact can be profound and long lasting.

MY APPROACH

I will listen carefully to what you tell me and give you space for you to talk about what is troubling you and provide a confidential space where you can reflect on your life experience and how it has impacted upon you. Along with listening  to what you tell me, I will offer my own reflections and perspectives from time to time if I think they will be helpful to you and the process.

It is often not easy to talk about painful experiences which we have suffered, and we often prefer not to think about by virtue of the fact they have made us suffer. It is therefore very important that I facilitate an environment of care and empathy. This is so crucial therapeutically, particularly as for those who have been emotionally wounded, almost in all cases did not receive the empathy and care that was needed at the time and therefore definitely require it in psychotherapy.

Therapy is a space where patterns which have become obstructions can be identified and thought about from new perspectives. It also enables you to separate yourself from your experiences and gain more perspectives on what has taken place which can sometimes be surprising and liberating. This frees you from the sense of being 'caught up' in things and to think about what is best for you.

THE IMAGINATION

Working with the imagination might mean working with dream content or an image that resonates with you. You may also wish to use art materials as a way of deepening your contact with your unconscious mind. We will then spend time thinking together about whatever has emerged from this work and think about how it might relate to you. Making such links can be an invaluable process, as once life experiences and their associated emotions can be named and thought about, they are much less likely to feel like they are in control of you or running your life.

ART THERAPY

I am a trained art psychotherapist but it is not a pre-requisite that you use art materials in our work together. You may feel what works best for you is to talk in the traditional way. If you wish however, you might like to work with expressive arts such as drawing/ painting or working with clay. Drawing/ artistic skills are not needed at all! These non-verbal methods of expression are sometimes very helpful in terms of accessing the unconscious and deeper layers of the self. It can also help you to calm feelings of anxiety, or safely express your anger or frustration and make sense of it.

Creative block/ writers block

Assertiveness

Personal boundaries

Dreamwork

Controlling behaviour /coercive control

£65 - £80 per session. 

I sometimes have reduced fee spaces for students or for those on low income. If you fall into either of these categories, please ask me if this is currently available.

I have written several articles on a range of subjects published on Counselling Directory, Private Psychiatry and Psychereg.com as well as on my own website. Please feel free to read these as this will perhaps give you a further sense of how I work.

I am open to working with everyone and LGBTQ+ affirmative.