Christine Fletcher

In-person:

Mondays and Tuesdays - afternoons and evenings in Pimlico

Online: 

Wednesdays/ Thursdays (8.30 to 17.00)

Friday morning (8.30 to 13.30)

I am an experienced and easy going psychotherapist/ counsellor with a wide range of training and knowledge. I welcome work with all ages and backgrounds.

Based on my experience, I specialize in working with young people up to 25 yrs. I have a long history of working in a variety of settings, including schools and clinical roles. My systemic training has allowed my working knowledge to extend to working with families and couples, looking at key dynamics and communications that form the basis of our relationships. 

As a human, I am only too aware of the challenges in life - I believe mental health issues such as anxiety, low mood alert us to something needing attention in our lives. We all develop patterns of behaviour and thinking in response to our environment and life challenges - when these no longer work for us, we need help and support from others. 

People come in all shapes and sizes and any struggle is part of being human. Gaining a deeper awareness of ourselves, together with the support of a professional, can be an important step towards improved wellbeing and happiness.

My core training is psychodynamic psychotherapy which gives focus to early life experience and the quality of our attachments to parents and carers. This helps gain valuable understanding about where we have come from and who we are. Humans cannot thrive without connections and I have a keen interest in exploring connections and relationships in the work with clients. Healthy connections are important for happiness in life. Every child, person and family has their own story. Understanding and accepting who we are is key to overcoming mental health challenges.

In the sessions, my aim is to provide a safe and relaxed space to explore and tackle any issues that are hindering the person from getting the most out of their life and relationships. I have an easy going style of working and am keen to engage clients and families in the best way to help them get the most out of our sessions. 

Some of the common issues I work with could be anxiety, panic, anger and behaviour, relationship difficulties (peers/ family), low self esteem, self harm and suicidal ideation. The basis of my work is talking therapy - language is vital to human connection but not all will feel comfortable or competent with this. I am a flexible and creative practitioner and will work with the client that works for them. 

My first session will focus on getting to know the client or family. Together we will attempt to gather an understanding of the issues. I may check family background and ask questions about family events and relationships/ dynamics - family being an important context for any person. We will track the development of the issues, try to clarify together what to work on going forward. 

Mondays/Tuesdays - early morning (9.00 - 11.00)

Wednesdays/ Thursdays - daytime (9.00 - 17.00)

Friday morning - working online (until 13.00)

Sharing practice is one of the joys of gaining in maturity and experience - I feel that digesting all aspects of the work is vital. Each feeling and thought occurs for a reason and adds something that will keep the work interesting and alive. For this reason, enabling supervisees to feel safe enough to bring anything into the supervision space is what I value the most. Digesting and understanding the client work together can feel extremely rewarding.

I am an experienced practitioner with over 20 years experience of working with children, young people and families in various settings, including schools. I qualified as a psychotherapist/ counsellor (CYP) 10 years ago and have been a clinical supervisor for 3 years. I have a huge amount of knowledge to share as a practitioner - I specialize in work with under 25s but now work with all ages and clients from all walks of life. I also offer family and couples work.

For many years, I was employed for a busy South London mental health service (CYP) and for the last 2 years I have been working in full-time private practice. Among my experiences are many years of multi-agency work (social care, CAMHS, schools, GP practices). I have a keen interest in systemic work and understanding the client work in context - I worked as part of a reflecting team (systemic family work) for 2 years. In addition, I have many years of work with complex and risk cases - 3 years experience of triaging with CAMHS. 

I believe I am an easy going practitioner/ supervisor who will work alongside you to get the best out of your practice. I would say that, as a person, I am methodical and thorough, paying attention to detail is often where the deeper understanding lies. I have a keen interest in the conscious and unconscious aspects of the work - and exploring the relational aspects of the issues. Although my core training is in psychodynamic psychotherapy with children and adolescents, as with any practitioner, I have grown in my work over many years - other trainings have added skills but also enabled different perspectives. 

As a person I am flexible and always mindful of the 'not knowing' part of the work that helps us feel curious, interested and ready to learn more. I would say that the 7 eyed model would be my preferred mode for supervision - as it complements my beliefs that supervision should consider understanding of the work from many different angles. 

My first session with you will be about clarification - where you feel you are at, what you feel you need and what I can, as your supervisor, bring to the table to support you and to hold you in your work with the clients.  

I may use a contract for the both of us to get clarity - we will come back to this at regular intervals to ensure that you are getting the most out of the supervision and that I am providing what you need.