Meet Joel
Hi, I'm Joel, a BACP-Accredited Therapist, MBACP (Accred) and Certified Professional Coach (CPC) working in Clapham (London), Tonbridge (Kent) and online. I work with adults in short, medium and long term therapy. My particular specialisms are addiction and recovery (including twelve-step frameworks), codependency*, and confidence and self-esteem, alongside men's issues and relationship difficulties.
*Codependency is being overly focused on taking care of others at the expense of one's own happiness, often relying on the approval of others for sense of worth.
Much of my work is with men who have lost confidence in one or more parts of their life: relationships, intimacy, work, or a sense of fulfilment. In my experience, the anxiety and low mood that bring many people to therapy are the surface of deeper patterns, and working at that level is where change tends to last.
I came to this work through my own recovery from addiction and years of my own therapy. I know how much a person can stay hidden, or feel trapped in their circumstances, and how much can change when that's no longer necessary.
I work with all neurotypes, and adults who experience autistic or ADHD characteristics, whether diagnosed, self-identified or still working it out, are a regular part of my practice. I bring my own lived experience of neurodivergence to that work, alongside ongoing CPD and research, and it often overlaps with my longer-standing specialisms in addiction, codependency and self-esteem.
Many of the autistic and ADHD adults I work with arrive after years of being told stories about themselves: lazy, too sensitive, not trying. Part of the work is often untangling the pain of those experiences from the reality of who they are now. You can read more about how I work with neurodivergence here.
My background is in education. I spent 25 years in adult education and training before and alongside my therapy career, and qualified as a professional coach along the way, so I'm as interested in what you want to build as in what you're working through. I'm also the founder of Tonbridge Counselling Hub, which supports the local community with therapists offering face-to-face and online counselling, including a number of lower-cost spaces for those who cannot afford the full fee.
My style is relaxed, friendly, empathic and creative. I like stimulating insight and self-awareness, and I often bring different tools and techniques into sessions to support that.
My practice is integrative and relational with a person-centred core. The person-centred tradition holds that people have a natural pull towards their own wellbeing and growth, and that my job is to help you connect or reconnect with that.
I offer a free 20 minute initial chat so we can find out whether we're a good fit and I can answer any questions. I look forward to hearing from you.