Hello
I hope your search for a therapist is going well.
Here’s a bit about me. I’m an independent psychotherapist, working in private practice. I trained in person-centred psychotherapy at the University of Nottingham, and its clinic, The Human Flourishing Project, where my work with clients ‘made a dramatic impact’ for the better. I have rapidly built up a busy private practice, helping people locally, nationally, and overseas. I’m lucky enough to work full-time, one of the few therapists to do so.
I was born and bred in West Cornwall, the son of a local doctor. After living and working all over the world, I am now back in the Mount’s Bay area with my family.
Although I work in a holistic, person-centred / experiential manner, I sometimes incorporate influences from compatible traditions, such as Buddhist psychology, mindfulness, existentialism and positive psychology. I work in a pluralistic manner, which means I try to take into account the unique preferences that each clients has. This is not ‘integrated’ therapy in the usual sense because it remains essentially phenomenological and non-directive (please forgive the jargon). Any techniques are only implemented as an expression of a genuine person-centred approach, and with full respect for the client’s perspective and self-determination. Unlike many therapists I like to avoid ideology, and it’s divisive ‘isms’, and this has allowed me to focus more on the individual person in the absence of judgment. I work in compliance with the BACP’s ethics framework with the simple aim of providing good therapy.
I have seen the damage done to people’s autonomy and confidence by the medicalisation of psychological distress – i.e. imposing the idea of ‘disease’ on to what are better seen as psychological states. This leaves people feeling helpless, dependant on the valuings and priorities of another, and is too often not much more helpful than telling them they are possessed by demons. If you are also concerned about the de-humanizing impact of the ‘medical model’ on people’s capacity for growth, please consider signing the ERNI declaration.
It is such a privilege to be invited into someone’s inner world, and to help them on their journey towards getting more from life, whether they would call this therapy, counselling or coaching. I would still want to do this work even if I didn’t need to charge for it!
Tim Harvard-Sweeting MSc, MA, BA (Hons), MBACP
