Tom Hands

I currently have availability on Mondays.

I emphasise a collaborative approach to therapy, helping people work through the ways past experiences consciously and unconsciously affect them in the present. I believe two elements form the basis of effective therapy: adjusting the approach to meet the individual’s specific needs, and the quality of the therapeutic relationship itself. 

I offer an empathic, non-judgmental, and confidential space to talk about anything in life that is troubling you. This may be specific issues and relationship dynamics, experiences from your past that you feel affect you and how you relate to the world now; or a general feeling you’re unsure about. I have particular experience helping people suffering from trauma and complex trauma. 

Our time working together in therapy will aim to help you to express and develop an understanding of these issues and what they mean for you. This may be to help develop a greater sense of agency within yourself, or to heal from harmful past experiences. To this end, I work integratively, drawing on Person-Centred and Psychodynamic modalities.

Aside from my practice in Leith I also offer outdoor and home visit sessions.

Outdoors we will approach therapy in much the same way we would in a more traditional indoor setting. However, many people find structuring a session around a walk or a place in nature a more comfortable way for them to engage with the process. Outside of winter these can take place in green spaces across central Edinburgh and can either be walking sessions, a fixed location or a combination. Given the variable weather these sessions may require suitable footwear, warm layers and waterproofs.

Prior to starting outdoor sessions we will discuss how we will approach days with bad weather and other events such as either of us bumping into someone we know.

I can also offer at home visits for sessions across central Edinburgh for those who may otherwise struggle to access in person therapy. These just require that you have a space that we can both sit comfortably and talk privately without disruption.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about these types of sessions.

I don’t charge for the first session, which is an opportunity to discuss what’s brought you to therapy and see if us working together might be the right fit for you.