Thank you for visiting my site. My name is Alastair Roberts.

I am a BABCP UK Accredited CBT Therapist, BACP UK Accredited Psychological Counsellor, and Coach working in London, Berlin and remotely on Skype, FaceTime or Zoom.

The models of psychotherapy I am trained in and practise, are CBT/REBT, Schema Therapy, EMDR, Pia Mellody’s ‘Inner Child Re-parenting model (PIT)’ for working with developmental trauma, codependency and compulsive behaviours, and Existential Psychotherapy,.

Services

CBT/REBT

CBT (Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy) is the therapeutic tradition where it is generally accepted that people’s problems are largely determined by the way they think about the adversities that they face in life and how they act in the face of these adversities. The remedy lies in replacing faulty thinking with functional thinking, and taking action that strengthens rather than weakens this new thinking.

REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy) is the original form of CBT that was founded in 1955 by an American Psychologist, Albert Ellis (1913-2007). Of the two main schools of CBT, REBT is the one that remains closest to its philosophical roots of Stoicism and Existentialism. It is transdiagnostic (meaning that one method is learned and used to treat a full range of emotional and behavioural issues, including meta disturbances), and it goes to core belief level from the outset, thereby enabling clients to get better for the long term, rather than just feel better in the short term.

CBT/REBT sessions are structured, active and collaborative, focus on the here-and-now, are problem focused and goal oriented, involve inter-session homework, and aim to teach clients to become their own therapist. A course of CBT/REBT therapy will typically consist of 8-24 sessions.

CBT/REBT is interested in looking at problems as they manifest in the client’s present-day life and ongoing into the future. It is not so concerned with how or from where unhealthy beliefs or behavioural coping strategies originated. That said, where we assess that emotion memories setup through early life trauma are holding up unhealthy beliefs in the present, I am trained in other “wave 3” CBT and trauma protocols that work with long past material that is impacting the present.

CBT consists of rigorously evaluated theories using evidence collected from scientific  research studies. Hence it is the therapy of choice of state health services and insurance companies, where evidence based treatments are a de-facto standard.

Pia Mellody’s "Inner Child Re-parenting model (PIT)" for developmental trauma, co-dependency and compulsive behaviours.

Codependency is a relational disorder in which a person struggles to maintain an authentic sense of self whilst being interconnected to others. A key feature of codependency is the abandonment of self by adapting the self to fit in with others. It’s origin is typically when one or both parents engaged in any of many compulsive behaviours, was involved in an abusive or dysfunctional relationship including in their own upbringing,  or suffered from serious emotional issues themselves as they parented.

The pattern of living and relating that the growing child learned in order to survive in a family in which there was such emotional pain and stress, comprises “developmental trauma”. This often leads to a variety of problematic relational styles, thinking and behaviour when that child becomes an adult. The child may grow up to engage in compulsive behaviours or addictions, or to be attracted to others who do so. Common compulsive behaviours include the excessive use of alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, food, sex, love, work, exercise, gambling, spending, debting, saving, hoarding, perfectionism, antisocial behaviour, raging and criminality.

The good news is that recovery from developmental trauma and codependency is possible. Some recovery methods are 12-Step self-help programs, Pia Mellody’s PIT model, Schema Therapy and EMDR. In Mellody’s model clients re-examine their childhood relationships, and identify and heal childhood and adolescent wounds in a safe and nurturing environment utilising inner child imagery, re-scripting and adaptive re-parenting.

Schema Therapy, devised by Jeffrey Young, consists of a similar but much more detailed and formalised approach, aimed particularly at working with Personality Disorders and other serious disturbances. Schema Therapy draws from CBT, Attachment Theory, Psychodynamic concepts, and Emotion-focused therapies. It places emphasis on overcoming self-defeating life patterns and deep rooted emotional problems.

EMDR is a body based therapy originally developed for treating people diagnosed with PTSD, by Francine Shapiro. It is now recognised as very useful for treating a wide range of deeply embedded psychological issues. It uses “bilateral stimulation” in the form of eye movements &/or taps or audio stimuli to reprocess emotion memories that are stored in a fragmented way in the brain’s limbic system, into whole and integrated narrative memories that are stored in the brain’s neocortex area. When information has been reprocessed in this way it is no longer susceptible to traumatic recall via present day triggers. Hence one is more able to drop dysfunctional thinking and behaviours that have served to avoid such triggers occurring.

I am part way through official training and accreditation in Schema Therapy and EMDR.

Work and life coaching

In coaching you are helped, through guided questioning and discussion, to solve a problem or perform better than you might have otherwise done on your own, and thus be more effective and fulfilled. The coach helps the coachee use his own resources to find his own solutions. The coach doesn’t necessarily provide the solutions from the outset.

Some important foci for attention in work and life coaching are prompt and functional decision making and action taking, persistence or keeping going, resilience or bouncing back, identifying and articulating one’s values, identifying valued goals, ensuring one’s actions are largely in accordance with these goals, and engaging with the concepts of meaning and purpose on an ongoing basis.

I practise Cognitive Behavioural Coaching (CBC) integrated with Existential Ideas to allow work on these areas.

About Alastair Roberts

I am a UK accredited CBT and Existential integrative Psychological Counsellor, Therapist and Coach, with over 9 years of experience. I practise in English, in London and Berlin. I am also available on Skype or Facetime from anywhere across the World. I help people with both clinical and sub-clinical issues.

Do you need professional support to work on distressing emotional experiences, like stress, anxiety, conflictdepression and low self-esteem, or unhelpful habits like procrastination, perfectionism and addictions? Is your performance at work waning? Have you got an important interview coming up? Are you facing difficult decisions? Are you lacking in energy and motivation? Do you have difficulty with resilience and persistence? Are you questioning what you value and whether you’re making enough of your life? Are you co-dependent in your relational life, cut off from people or over involved?

I can help you with these and many other issues. Your work with me will be challenging and vitalised. You’ll find me caring and non-judgemental, as well as focused and on-point. You’ll also receive a lot of supportive psychoeducational material appropriate to what we’re working on.

Clinical issues I’ve successfully treated in the last year include depression, anxiety, social phobia, OCD, addictions, ADD/ADHD, complex bereavement issues and panic disorder.

Sub-clinical issues I’ve successfully treated in the last year include chronic procrastination, loss of focus for students, anger issues, jealousy, hurt, rejection, HIV issues, chemsex issues, sex and sexuality issues, working with values, preparation for senior interviews, co-dependency in relationships and the legacy of developmental trauma and abuse.

I have undertaken extensive professional training, including a Masters degree and 5 further specialist diplomas and advanced diplomas in psychotherapeutic models. I have experience working as a therapist in private practice, in a drug and alcohol treatment service, a clinic for sex workers, an HIV and sexuality issues agency, and a psychotherapy service for older persons. I have coached people in the marketing, telecoms, finance and legal fields as well as in my private practice.

Fees

The cost of a standard 60 minute counselling, therapy or coaching session is based on a sliding scale. Please enquire for further information. Payment is in GBP or EUR by bank transfer or Revolut.

           To arrange a free 30 min introductory appointment please use my online calendar at https://calendly.com/alastairsessions, use the contact panels below or call +44 (0) 7795 988277 or +49 (0) 163 7913075.

Testimonials
I have really enjoyed working with Alastair. He is enthusiastic and committed and has a really good nature. He’s smart and interesting. He was firm with me when he needed to be but never hard. I appreciated his flexibility in giving me extra minutes when we needed it. I’m so pleased with the work.
Y. B.

I’ve been very happy with the service and I am glad I decided to come, it has had a hugely positive impact on my life. I’ve got married, I’ve got a much better job and I’ve moved cities. I hardly procrastinate anymore and my anxiety and depression are passed. Thank you so much!
H. G.

Alastair’s support and expertise has given me the courage to be much more authentic and open, particularly with my friends and loved ones. His warm and extremely professional nature allowed me to trust him entirely and that really helped me to achieve the most from our sessions. I thank him for enabling me to look more kindly on myself. I will miss working with him.
Julian

I suffered from being shy, and had fear of meeting up with other people. I’m now happily going out to lots of things and meeting loads of different people. Thank you for your time and patience in helping me. My life has changed!
K. H.

Locations

London and Berlin

London – Oxford Circus

Closest Underground: Oxford Circus (5 mins walk)

Berlin – Kurfurstendamm

Closest U-Bahn: U1/U9 Kurfurstendamm (3 mins walk)

 

Skype

Skype and FaceTime sessions are available

Book a Free Session!

+49 (0) 163 7913075