Paula John

I am an Adult Psychodynamic Psychotherapist and Psychologist with over 14 years of dedicated service within the NHS and in private practice.

Having trained at the world leading Tavistock Clinic in London, I specialise in psychodynamic psychotherapy, a psychoanalytic approach. I provide expert therapeutic support to individuals with emotional difficulties and/or mental health conditions, with compassion and professionalism, including:

- Relationship difficulties
- Trauma
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Bereavement
- Psychosomatic symptoms (medically unexplained symptoms)
- Issues around sexuality
- Self-esteem problems
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Work-related stress or burnout

I offer weekly psychotherapy sessions which last 50 minutes each and take place at the same time every week. In these sessions, I offer a safe and reliable space for us to work together on making sense of the difficulties in your life and the patterns that might be hindering your development. Part of this work involves understanding how past experiences have shaped how you feel about yourself and others today, which subsequently provides an opportunity for change.

I am a full member with the Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists, the British Psychoanalytic Council and the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and adhere to their code of ethics and practice.
I am a certified psychologist with a German psychology degree (Dipl.-Psych.), specialising in clinical psychology.
Furthermore, I have contributed valuable insights to the field of mental health and psychoanalysis through my publications (e.g., in the British Journal of Psychiatry 2016), exploring key topics such as clinical best practice, ADHD from a psychoanalytic point of view and the concept of feeling valued in a clinical setting.

I offer psychotherapy at various locations in London: in South East London (Denmark Hill), Central London (Bloomsbury) and North London (Swiss Cottage). I can provide sessions in English and in German.

It takes a lot of courage to make the first step towards getting help for your emotional difficulties and you might have lots of questions and anxieties about what psychotherapy is really like.
Following a brief phone call, I offer at least 2 initial 50 mins consultations in which we can think together about your queries and feelings about starting therapy.