Bert-Jan Zuiderduin
Counsellor in London

I offer a compassionate and confidential environment, where you can feel safe to explore any issues in your life, in an accepting and non-judgmental way. Over more than a decade, I have worked with a wide variety of clients, supporting them through difficult times by helping them to express and understand their thoughts and feelings, transform the relationship with themselves and others, and live their life more confidently. Having an interest in u I integrate psychoanalytic and Jungian approaches in open and creative ways, for example working with external relationships and influences from the past that shape our "internal world".

I am particularly interested in the different "parts" (or sub-personalities) that each of us have within ourselves, born from identifications with important figures in our lives or as responses to powerful life events. In my experience, these parts are mostly protective but they may have unintentionally become stuck.

Fundamental to my work is to "listen" with deep empathy to different parts of yourself that you are bringing up in our sessions and to help create some integration, some dialogue between them. Most of all, I aim for you to connect to yourself in a way that is perhaps more accepting and which has that perspective to enable you make new choices.

Background & Counselling Qualifications

I am a qualified and experienced psychodynamic counsellor and psychotherapist (MSc) and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP). I am also a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) as a counsellor and work within the ethical frameworks for good practice of both professional bodies. I have undertaken group work training at the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) and I am just starting an advanced training in Jungian Psychoanalysis.

In addition to my work in private practice, I highly value the role of communities and the role of a therapist within the wider context of society. I work as a group therapist at Room to Heal in Islington, supporting refugees and survivors of human rights violations. As part of my ethical and socially responsible stance, I work in an LGBTQ+ affirmative way.

My Specialisms

We all have times when we feel unable to deal with what can be an overload of emotions and thoughts. Our response may be to shut down or we may try to use food, substances, activities, relationships to drown out their intensity, gain some sense of peace or control. When these methods - sometimes formed over many years - cease to work, therapy can help get back in touch with our core self.

​

Below I have listed some (not all) of the issues I can help with:

​*Feeling low, depressed or suicidal
*Low confidence or self-esteem
*Panic, anxiety or phobias
*Trauma
*Relationship or sexual problems
*Bereavement and loss
*Anger
*Domestic or sexual violence
*Problems at work or redundancy
*Bullying
*Addictions
*Self-harming
*Eating disorders
*Psychosomatic illness

​Usually, expressing feelings and making sense of troubling issues with a counsellor or psychotherapist for a number of weekly sessions will give you a different perspective and the emotional clarity to start living a more satisfying, healthy or meaningful life.

As it often turns out, therapy can also be process of discovery far beyond the relief of symptoms: to get to know yourself better and have a fuller experience of life.

​Spaces are currently available for 3-times weekly sessions at a reduced rate.

Approach to Counselling & How I Work

Counselling and psychotherapy are different names for very similar ways of helping, sometimes also referred to as "talking therapies". Counselling is usually considered to be more short-term, less intensive, perhaps less formal, while psychotherapy is considered more in-depth, taking years rather than months. My training and experience has enabled me to adjust my style to the individual and I prefer to simply call my work "therapy".

Psychodynamic therapy is rooted in psychoanalysis. It has found a wide variety of applications since the early days of Freud, Jung and their contemporaries. Modern contributions such as Attachment Theory and developments in neuroscience have also added a wealth of insight and research. What most psychodynamic therapies today still have in common is a focus on the unconscious and on interpersonal relationships in the past past and in the present. From a Jungian perspective, I focus also on the unconscious as a helpful force for change.

Therapies & Rates

Please note the rates detailed below are there to give you an idea of the therapists standard rates, we strongly advise you contact the therapist for more detailed rates and any offers they may have.

Therapy	Appointment Type	Rate
Psychotherapy	In Person	Please Call
Psychotherapy	Online/Telephone	Please Call
Counselling	In Person	Please Call
Counselling	Online/Telephone	Please Call

Additional Rate Information

Regular sessions are offered at an upwards sliding scale starting from £70. I do occasionally have spaces at reduced rates (see also below*). I usually arrange for one or two initial sessions, as an opportunity for us to get to know each other and find out how we might work together in a way that is helpful. We can then agree how we would like to proceed. I see this is not so much as a formal assessment but rather as two-way conversation as I believe choosing a therapist that "matches" will be much more helpful in the long run. *Spaces are currently available for 3-times weekly sessions at a reduced rate. ​