Esme Campbell

Currently available during weekday daytimes. Please enquire for further information.

As a psychodynamic therapist, I believe our earlier life experiences persist in affecting our ways of behaving, relating and feeling in the present; both consciously and unconsciously. I also believe that self-awareness of our pasts may be a key to understanding ourselves better; but that effective counselling should help us to make internal or external changes that free us to live more fully right now, and positively impact our futures.

People seek therapy for a variety of reasons: We might be in distress or crisis. We might feeling down, overwhelmed or burnt out. Sometimes our behaviours confuse us or those around us. Maybe we find it hard to be fully and authentically ourselves, or have conflicting desires or feelings. We might be struggling with acceptance of things we cannot change, or struggling with self-acceptance. Maybe we are experiencing issues in our important relationships, or simply want to understand ourselves better.  Therapy can be a helpful space to start with all of this. By providing a safe environment to explore the things that bother us, or that matter to us most.

My style is warm, professional and non-judgmental as well as active and collaborative. I aim to sensitively and appropriately challenge my clients in an empathetic way to provide new insights and perspectives. I have experience working with many issues. Some areas I regularly work with include: depression, anxiety, family issues, trauma, bereavement, ADHD, ASC, relationship issues, dating, addictions, eating disorders, perfectionism, procrastination, rejection sensitivity, setting boundaries, self-esteem issues and working with people wanting to explore their identity, sexuality or gender.

I am open, friendly and my practice is supportive of different cultural backgrounds ethnicities and is LGBTQ+  and Neurodivergent affirming. 

I am an experienced and qualified therapist and have worked extensively since 2017 with a variety of clients and issues. I am accredited by the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy; meeting their higher standards as a competent, ethical and independent practitioner. I work in private practice and as a Senior Therapist at a well established therapy clinic in Brighton and Hove, and offer both in-person and online sessions. Prior to training as a therapist I worked in both Public and Mental Health at the Local Authority as well as at Mind in Brighton & Hove.

My Qualifications include:

A Post Graduate Diploma in Psychodynamic Psychotherapeutic Counselling (Dist) BACP Accredited Course

Counselling Skills Level 2 Training (CPCAB)

In addition to my core Psychotherapeutic trainings, I undertake regular CPD and additional training to ensure my knowledge and expertise remain current with best theoretical and scientific practice. Some examples include: Drugs and Alcohol, Dual Diagnosis, Safeguarding, Self-harm and Suicidal ideation, LGBTQ affirmative practice, Motivational Interviewing, Neurodiversity affirmative practice and working with ADHD and ASC clients. Working with Shame. Various trauma informed therapeutic approaches. Working with the body/somatic experiences and approaches involving regulation and breathwork. Neuroscience and attachment trainings and working with relationship issues.

I work relationally as I believe that our relationships are extremely impactful, and it follows that the relationship between therapist and client is crucial to productive counselling work. I therefore offer a free 30 minute initial consultation session (by phone or zoom), to get to know you and understand your background and any specific areas you wish to address. Importantly this will also give you an idea of what counselling with me will be like. I believe that therapy can be an invaluable, rewarding and enjoyable process; but it can also feel challenging, and is a time and cost commitment. So this session will also give space to discuss the envisaged length of therapy (I offer short, mid and long term) as well as cost and frequency of sessions.