Haiko Ballieux

I currently have available slots on Mondays and Fridays.

Slots are available from 8am until 7pm (finishing at 7.50pm).

I'm Haiko, an Integrative Counsellor & Coach based in London, working online with adults (Mondays & Fridays). I trained using the Personal Consultancy framework (set up by Popovic & Jinks), which integrates counselling and coaching practice. This means I can, if needed/requested, move between therapeutic and coaching approaches as your needs change, rather than referring you elsewhere once you've gained insights through our therapeutic work. My practice is small and intentional: I work with people I feel I can genuinely help, and I take that seriously. 

I can work with you for a number of reasons, e.g. when you experience stress, anxiety, life transitions, (lack of) confidence, relationship issues, work pressure, procrastination, loneliness, trauma, OCD, ADHD, or when you just feel stuck. I particularly enjoy working with clients who find therapy unfamiliar or exposing (e.g. men), and find that people often make real progress once they find a space that is non-judgemental, warm, honest, and grounded.

I work collaboratively, letting my interaction with you guide what is needed in the moment based on what you would like to get out of our sessions together. I do this by drawing on person-centred, psychodynamic, existential, Gestalt, somatic, ACT, CBT, and coaching approaches. So, sometimes we'll sit with something difficult, other times we'll actively work towards change. 

Before training as a therapist, I spent almost two decades as an academic researching how the mind and brain develop, publishing on early attention and awareness, (neuroscience of) compassion, and wellbeing. I still work part-time as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster. This background partly shapes how I work: I can bring real scientific understanding of why we think, feel, and behave as we do into the room (without turning sessions into a lecture).

For more info, please see my website: https://haiko-coach-therapist.co.uk/

Sessions are 50 minutes, held weekly online (video call), on a Monday or Friday. If requested, we can have an initial, informal 15-min phone conversation - no commitment - so you can ask questions and we can both get a sense of fit. If we go ahead, we start with a block of 3 sessions, giving us time to properly understand what has brought you to therapy and whether working together feels right. After that, we review progress roughly every 6 sessions, so the work stays purposeful rather than open-ended by default.

There's no expectation that you arrive with everything mapped out, or that you open up fully straight away - the pace is yours to set. Because I work integratively, sessions can move from counselling to coaching, but only if/when needed (the main focus will still be on counselling).

What you can expect from me: a direct, warm, non-judgemental presence, informed by both clinical training and a research background in developmental and cognitive neuroscience - so alongside empathy, you'll get a genuine understanding of the "why" behind what you're experiencing.

Practicalities: 

- counselling is £70/50 minutes (the first session costs £55), with two concessionary slots available weekly for those on a low budget (proof required).

- coaching-only sessions are £120/90 minutes or £85/60 minutes. 

Sessions are confidential, with standard exceptions (risk of serious harm, legal requirement). Anonymised notes are kept securely per UK GDPR. I ask for at least 3 days' notice to cancel or reschedule; you're free to end therapy at any time, with 3 weeks' notice. Contact between sessions is by email, for scheduling only - not for therapy itself. If you're in crisis, please contact NHS 111, 999, or Samaritans on 116 123.

The first counselling session is priced at £55, reflecting that it's a shorter, more structured introductory meeting rather than a full working session (subsequent sessions are priced at the standard rate of £70).

Before we meet, I ask you to complete a short assessment form. This isn't a test or a formal diagnostic tool; it's simply a way to give our first conversation some structure and save time in session.

The counselling assessment asks about what brought you to therapy now, what you're hoping to get from our work together, your personal and wellbeing history (including any past therapy, relevant diagnoses, medication, and alcohol/substance use), and a few safety-related questions (e.g. any history of self-harm or risk to yourself or others), so I can hold this appropriately from the outset.

You're welcome to complete the form as fully or as briefly as feels comfortable - nothing is compulsory, and we'll go through your answers together in the first session rather than treating the form as a substitute for conversation. The aim is simply to help us start from a place of shared understanding, so we can use the first session to explore what brought you here and get a sense of whether working together feels right, rather than spending most of it on background-gathering.

If you are looking for coaching only, then the self-assessment is more forward-looking, asking about your expectations, your current achievements and areas of success, what you would like to develop, and any goals or milestones you already have in mind.

Everything shared is treated confidentially, in line with the same limits (risk of serious harm, legal requirement) that apply throughout our work together.