MEET JAMES JOHNSON

For years, I felt uncomfortable in my own skin and was a people pleaser, trying to please everyone else and ending up pleasing no one, least of all me. I stuffed a lot of what I wanted and needed down, scared to show how I really felt and thought. As a result I was stressed, unhappy and I just didn't really know how to be in relationships. My relationships were one-sided, I lacked good communication skills and didn't express what I wanted. I was often stressed, ill, and I was generally not taking very good care of myself.

Then as luck would have it I was able to identify my true vocation - Counselling. It turned out this is what I had been doing most of my life. People would often say to me, “I can't believe I am telling you this,” or "you're a really good listener" - in hindsight it was obvious, I was always interested in what made people happy and how conflict was created between people. It naturally followed that I would like to help people become more content in life and relationships.

I highlighted the Person-Centred approach as a style of therapy that I believed in and so began my intensive training, receiving my Diploma in The Theory and Practice of Counselling, after 3 years of study and 50 clinical hours of client work and 130 hours of my own personal therapy.

As a result of my training and personal therapy a major transformation happened in my life. I learnt a lot about myself and made some big changes in my thinking and my behaviour, and as a result, my relationships with others began to improve. I began to like myself a lot more. I felt much more comfortable in my own skin, and more at ease. I stopped creating many of the problems that I accused others of creating. I was happier. My friends and family noticed, and my relationship with my partner went from strength to strength. People liked the new me! I liked the new me!

It was during and after my training that I realised that I have a passion for helping families and couples, as well as individuals, move out of their relationship issues and become happier in their lives, just like I had become happier in mine.

Following graduation, I undertook a position as a Youth Counsellor at a College in East London and at the same time took a position working with Adults at the national charity MIND in Tower Hamlets. At both organisations I worked with a large number of individual people struggling with issues including anxiety, depression, phobias, relationship issues, trauma, abuse, suicidal thoughts and addiction.

My interest in relationship issues developed from working with families and couples. It was in my private practice that I encountered a wide range of relationship problems and worked with a large number of families and couples to resolve their relationship pains. I realised I had a talent for helping families, couples and individuals achieve their relationship dreams and aspirations.

I have been practicing now since 2011, spending over 10,000 hours helping people transform difficulties into opportunities for understanding and growth.

As of 2024, I am qualified as a Clinical Supervisor of counsellors and psychotherapists. Helping other therapists give the best service possible to their clients.

In line with the strict guidelines of the BACP I attend regular counselling supervision and, to further my professional development, regular training. This means that you are getting the best possible help from our work together.

I hold a current DBS check and professional indemnity insurance.