David Packwood

I have been working as a therapist for over thirty years, helping people to move to a happier life. Much of my work has been within the NHS Primary and Secondary Care Services but I have also worked for other agencies e.g. Relate and in private practice. I have also taught for many years as college and university lecturer within the therapeutic field. I have also supported other therapists as a clinical supervisor and case work facilitator.

I work with individuals, couples and groups, from age eleven upwards through to older age. I have extensive experience of treating a wide range of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship related, self-esteem, sexual anxiety and identity issues.

I am a qualified psychotherapist and a Senior Accredited Member of the BACP. I am also a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and HCPC registered.

My core approach is psychodynamic but I integrate other modalities into this framework, including CBT, solution focused therapy and narrative therapy using stories and fairy tales. This integrative approach allows me to adapt my treatment to the needs of the individual.

I am aware that facing our concerns can be frightening and that therapy can only be effective if I am able to facilitate a safe therapeutic relationship between a client and myself. I believe that most of our emotional problems arise from early relationship strategies which we developed so that we could feel more secure with our caregivers. However, these strategies can often interfere with our ability to cope effectively as adults.

I see my role as enabling you to safely explore and understand the strategies that are no longer helpful to you, so that you can move on to choose more effective ways of coping with your life. This we can achieve together, sustained by my belief in the timeless healing power of a relationship based on acceptance and trust, a belief which lies at the heart of all my work.

Before I moved into therapeutic work in the mid-eighties I had a decade working in education. I always loved working as an educator and once I had sufficient experience as a therapist I turned my enthusiasm for teaching towards passing on my passion for therapy. I have lectured on counselling diploma courses in FE colleges and worked as both a visiting lecturer and senior lecturer in Higher Education. As a senior lecturer I have lectured up to and including Doctoral level courses in counselling and counselling psychology. I have developed and delivered a range of professional development courses both from a University base and within the NHS.

My style of delivery is very much based on an experiential model where participants experience the material they are learning about. I have an enormous range and depth of experience as a therapist and I love sharing this with other therapists whether they are trainees or experienced therapists.

I have a particular, but not exclusive interest, in the following areas:

Supervision

Dynamics of the therapeutic relationship

Personal Development

Use of stories and Fairy Tales in therapy

Masculinity and therapy

I have over twenty years experience as a clinical supervisor ranging from trainees through to experienced therapists. I have supervised counsellors, psychotherapist, psychologists and other allied professionals including CPNs and OTs. I use a process model as my framework which enables me to offer effective supervision to most therapeutic approaches.

I am challenging but supportive as a supervisor. I believe that a key component of supervision is to understand the process that we engage in with our clients. Ours is a profession where we are inevitably drawn into the dynamics of our client but that provides the key to understanding the client's issues. The aim is to learn from this rather than to see it as a failing as we are never immune to it happening. It can then become one of our main therapeutic tools.