Greg Mackenzie
Greg Mackenzie
B.A., M.A., Pg-dip CBT
15 years experience offering psychotherapy
10 years experience as NHS psychotherapist
Guest lecturer at Roehampton University, Epsom Adult College and British Psychological Society.
I am an approved therapist for Bupa, Axa and Aviva insurance providers.
3 easy steps to therapy:
Call or email Tel: 07817219628email: use link below or contact button.
Greg will arrange a first consultation at a time that is right for you.
Choose from two of the leading researched based therapies available:I offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with or without EMDR or Brief Psychodynamic Therapy.See below for further information.
I offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with or without EMDR or Brief Psychodynamic Therapy.
See below for further information.
What is therapy?
"One's destination is never a place, it's a new way of seeing things" Henry Miller.
Counselling or psychotherapy works due to it being a relationship like no other. Unlike in everyday conversations where each participant usually adds to the conversation with their own experiences, this therapy space is devoted to you. This can be both challenging and liberating. It invites you to experience yourself, others and the world in a different light.
Therapy is a conversation that invites you to consider patterns in how you think, behave or relate to others. The challenge: do you want to change these patterns? what obstacles may exist to change? and what are the goals you wish to achieve?
Initial consultation
The first consultation is a 50 minute conversation. The aims are to hear your concerns and goals. For you to hear how I work as a therapist. For us to decide if this is the right therapy for you at this time.
Initial therapy
CBT and DIT are gold standard therapies as recommended by the NICE guidelines and supported by leading research. We will agree to a particular package of up to 20 sessions. This will include an assessment phase, a middle phase and an ending phase. On completion you will have developed skills and or insights to support change and understanding regarding your concerns.
Costs: CBT £65-£120 per session. Sliding scale in relation to client earnings.
DIT: £65-£120 per session.
Integrative psychotherapy
If you decide the initial therapy was useful and you would benefit from a more open ended exploratory approach I would recommend that you take 3 months to consolidate your initial insights and then contact for integrative psychotherapy. This is a flexible approach using a range of interventions that draw from the rich field of psychotherapy.
Costs: £65-£120 per session. Sliding scale in relation to client earnings.
Discount offered for 2 or more sessions per week.
About me.
I have studied Integrative psychotherapy and counselling (MA) at Roehampton University and Post Graduate Diploma in CBT at the Institute of Psychiatry (PGDip). I have completed Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) at the Tavistock Institute and an accredited practitioner. I am additionally trained in Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing ( EMDR). In addition, I have completed short courses in Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT).
I have worked as a therapist for the NHS for the past 10 years in varying roles of therapist, service manager and clinical lead. I currently hold a part time post as senior practitioner with Talking Therapies, NHS.
I have taken advantage of the community of therapists and resources in training the NHS has, which has effectively helped me to stay in formal education for the past ten years and has been a great add on to my original studies at Roehampton.
I have found the colleagues I most respect have kept ongoing training. I think this is indicative of the wide variety of knowledge available and the nature of how complex people are.
Ways of working therapeutically
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a leading form of psychotherapy for common mental health disorders as described by NICE guidelines, the governments research base and official recommendations to the NHS. CBT is a short term therapy (2 -20 sessions).
CBT
examines maintenance cycles i.e. what we are doing or thinking right now that may increase feelings of low mood or anxiety.
The focus is on thoughts and behaviours because these are the easiest to explore and to test out alternatives.
I have studied under some of the leading names in CBT such as David Clarke, Anke Elhers, Christine Padesky, David Veale and Nick Grey amongst others. This has given a firm base to work with depression, phobias, social anxiety, generalised anxiety, post traumatic stress, obsessional compulsive disorder and panic attacks.
Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)
DIT is new form of psychodynamic therapy developed as a short term (16 week) protocol. It is recommended by NICE guidelines for treatment resistant depression.
It is not distinctly new in its theory base, what is new is the systematic focus on current relationships.
I and many patients have liked the sustained focus on the symbolism people take into relationships of themselves and the other person. This approach is an insight focussed approach. That is, it is aimed less at techniques and more about recognising how we symbolise the world, how our defences work, the benefit and cost of those defences and what possible changes may occur by dismantling those defences.
I have studied under some of leading names in DIT such as Peter Fonagy, Allessandra Lemma and Mary Target.
"Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength", Freud.
Integrative Psychotherapy
An Integrative approach as I understand it allows for a tailored approach. Areas of a persons life are brought together in a clear narrative.
This allows for a more open ended form of therapy and can take place over months and years.
The focus is on a person's relationships, how reciprocal those relationships are, the individual cognitions and behaviours exhibited in those relationships, the conscious and unconscious wishes in relation to those relationships and what parallels may exist with relationships from childhood.
This form of psychotherapy may involve cognitive strategies, behavioural experiments, letter writing, chair work, role play, dreams etc.
I studied this form of psychotherapy 15 years ago. I continue to study and develop my understanding both of this approach and of the incredible variety of people, in all their complexity and remarkable strengths in the face of adversity.
"It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found", Winnicott.