Lina Kaoud

Reaching out for therapy often comes at a point when familiar ways of coping are no longer working, or when you feel stuck in patterns you understand intellectually but struggle to shift emotionally. As a fully qualified Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) therapist and psychodynamic psychotherapist with over two decades of clinical experience, I offer an active, deeply attuned space to help you get to the root of what is holding you back. Having trained at the Tavistock Centre, my background spans the private, charitable, and NHS sectors—including clinical work at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and within the Psychotherapy Department at King’s College Hospital. I am accredited by the British Psychoanalytical Council (BPC) and hold memberships with the International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association (IEDTA), the Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists (TSP), and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

Because no two individuals are alike, I offer both focused, short-term ISTDP and longer-term, open-ended psychodynamic psychotherapy depending on your needs and wishes. You may be looking for a targeted, collaborative intervention to resolve an immediate emotional block, or you may want the space of longer-term therapy to process deep-seated trauma, explore recurring relational dynamics, and achieve lasting internal change. Our initial consultation is an opportunity to think together about what is troubling you, gain clarity on what is driving your difficulties, and decide whether working together feels like the right fit.

Over the past twenty years, I have helped adults navigate complex, developmental, and acute trauma alongside persistent depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, career dissatisfaction, and barriers to forming close, fulfilling relationships. I also work extensively with entrenched and treatment-resistant difficulties, including obsessional behaviours, phobic anxieties, disordered eating, and physical or somatic symptoms where the body carries the weight of unresolved emotional stress. Together, we can safely process early life and family experiences, interrupt self-defeating cycles, and work through profound grief or major life transitions. I believe that when we truly understand ourselves—and heal the unconscious wounds driving our behaviour—we free ourselves to live with greater ease, vitality, and genuine connection.

I am a psychodynamic psychotherapist and counsellor, with a number of years of experience working within the NHS, charity and private sectors. I trained at the Tavistock Centre and I am a member of Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists as well as a member of British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. I am accredited by the British Psychoanalytical Council.

I offer long-term as well as short term psychotherapy depending on your needs and wishes. You may want just a small number of sessions to think about what’s troubling you or perhaps you are considering longer term therapy to better understand your issues, feelings and make some choices and lasting changes. The initial consultation will give us an opportunity to discuss related matters before deciding whether psychotherapy might be appropriate and helpful.

In my experience, individual psychotherapy can be exceptionally valuable for helping people with underlying feelings of depression or anxiety, difficulties with self-esteem, dissatisfaction in work or inability to form satisfactory, intimate relationships. At other times it can help with specific issues such as eating disorders, obsessional behavior, or phobic anxieties. Therapy can help individuals to come to terms with early life and family experiences, it can break the cycle of destructive behaviors, guide through one's losses and life changes as well as helping us to fully understand ourselves and why we act and feel the way we do. I believe that the more we know ourselves – the better lives we can live.

I am a psychodynamic psychotherapist and counsellor, with a number of years of experience working within the NHS, charity and private sectors. I trained at the Tavistock Centre and I am a member of Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists as well as a member of British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. I am accredited by the British Psychoanalytical Council.

I offer long-term as well as short term psychotherapy depending on your needs and wishes. You may want just a small number of sessions to think about what’s troubling you or perhaps you are considering longer term therapy to better understand your issues, feelings and make some choices and lasting changes. The initial consultation will give us an opportunity to discuss related matters before deciding whether psychotherapy might be appropriate and helpful.

In my experience, individual psychotherapy can be exceptionally valuable for helping people with underlying feelings of depression or anxiety, difficulties with self-esteem, dissatisfaction in work or inability to form satisfactory, intimate relationships. At other times it can help with specific issues such as eating disorders, obsessional behavior, or phobic anxieties. Therapy can help individuals to come to terms with early life and family experiences, it can break the cycle of destructive behaviors, guide through one's losses and life changes as well as help us to fully understand ourselves and why we act and feel the way we do. I believe that the more we know ourselves – the better lives we can live.