Suha Al-Mahawi

Not available on Tuesdays and Fridays 

Currently working remotely.

I am a qualified psychotherapist with 23 years’ experience of working in the NHS primary care service & NHS CAMHS, with people from different cultural background. I have worked with individuals, couples, and families. I trained as an individual psychotherapist with the Minster Centre London and as a family therapist with the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.
My method of therapy is an integrative approach, meaning the use of several approaches tailored mainly to best meet my client’s needs. My focus is to create safety in sessions to enable the client to feel comfortable when they share their accounts. I believe in the ability and resources of my client. My approach to counselling is not based on opinionated answers, but rather listening and validating.  I do not give advice, I do not force change, nor do I have a magic formula to initiate transformations. I do believe that change comes from within. I see myself as a facilitator, holding a mirror for the client to allow them to see what is holding them back and bring their attention to things they were not aware of before so they can change their life. I aim to build a trusting alliance in therapy in a pace of time, to explore challenging traumatic events which would allow clients to feel relived, empowered and grow in therapy. 

The use of the title Dr in this directory listing relates to the member’s doctorate qualification. However, this does not imply a general medical qualification.

I personally feel each model has its own value and can work for all types of different problems. My counselling approach is based upon an integrative counselling approach.  The counsellor combines different models of therapy. My integrative approach is primarily being non-judgmental non-directive. An integrative approach stems back to humanistic psychology which studies the whole person and  the uniqueness of each individual. 

 I believe counselling enables individuals to reflect upon themselves and how they act in the outside world. In a safe environment, client can choose which issues they wish to work on and take the lead in exploring the problems. 

Through this approach, they are able to examine different points of views leading them to finding their own solutions. 

During a counselling relationship, the client has the freedom to be 'themselves' and maintain their true inner self. 

My role is to empower clients to trust their own wisdom and make  judgment rather than seek advice or answers from the counsellor.

I am currently working  with supervisee online via zoom.

I have availability on  Tuesdays and Fridays.

I am qualified supervisor. My model of supervision is integrative. I consider supervision as a learning partnership between both parties. I believe the more effort I put into building the alliance, the better the communication becomes. I see it as a place to meet the supervisee with empathy, congruence, and mutual respect. It is a journey for both of us - it is important to make supervision a safe environment for both. I  also work with therapists who wanted to develop the use of integrative model when working with individuals, couples and families.

 I consider supervision is an educational intervention process. The importance of supervision lies in creating the learning environment that matches the needs of the supervisee where supervisee would benefit from monitoring their work with clients and to grantee the best possible way forward to their professional as well as personal development. Based on supervisee’s needs, the focus of the discussion could include counselling skills and techniques (as conceptualization skills, including multiple perspectives of the client), application of counselling theory, multi-cultural counselling skills, supervisee’s self-awareness, and self-care skills.  

It is always crucial to have a structure in the first session that provides direction to the purpose of the work undertaken. Hence, supervision contracts should be done collaboratively.  It is always essential to have a clear specific contract that sets the agenda, reduce fear by helping to make a difficult conversation clearer and easier to understand what will occur and lay down the ground rules. 

The use of the title Dr in this directory listing relates to the member’s doctorate qualification. However, this does not imply a general medical qualification.