Gavin Johnston Stewart

Thank you for looking at my profile.

Being a person can be really difficult.  At times I find this, as I suspect you do.

I was trained in person centred therapy.  At its heart, this approach believes in the client’s innate ability to heal themselves, to experience growth.  You as the client are at the centre of the process and it is my job to properly hear and understand you, to help you become more fully aware of your real self.  In that setting I am truly curious and I am trying to make room for what is truthfully happening in the moment.  Life can be shaped by the defences that we have built, but carefully and supportively I can help you break through these, empowering you to make different choices for the future.

I see myself as a searching and creative person.  In my previous career as an interior designer I was used to close client contact while retaining boundaries, to providing the setting for their comfort and peace of mind.  Reading the client and what lies behind the words was an important facet.  Gradually, as the design world lost its appeal, I developed a strong sense that the practice of counselling was the right fit for me, where the focus could be on the relationship, the design having become a distraction.  In 2017 I concluded a postgraduate diploma at the University of East Anglia.

I had a confined, moralistic upbringing which prevented me from facing fundamental aspects of myself; therapy played a vital role in confronting them and moving my life forward.  But there are reasons aside from sexuality that a person can feel on the outside, unanchored.

I have experienced deep loss of loved people in my life.  I have lived through my own illness in recent years.  While it is important to appreciate that everyone’s experience is different, my own has touched and informed me.  I am now taking steps towards specific training around bereavement and coping with cancer.

Over the years I have worked with men and women, both individually and as couples.  I am encouraged by clients’ of all ages increasing openness to acknowledge the challenges they face in a difficult world, to prioritise their own well-being, to confront feelings of anxiety, low mood, self doubt and stress, to see how their relationships are being affected and to find a different way forward, building resilience.

I really feel I have something to offer, all the more so now: to provide a setting and a presence that enables you to find sufficient peace of mind.

I think that the quality of relationship between client and therapist is key and the first session will give begin to reveal this.  To build momentum, it makes sense for sessions to be weekly, at least to start with; usually it becomes clear to both parties when and if it’s right to space them out more, or perhaps bring them to a close; counselling may serve its purpose for a particular period and it can always be resumed at a later date.