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In-person sessions are currently offered within walking distance of Clapham Junction, Clapham South and Balham stations. Online sessions remain available to anyone who prefers this way of working, and to those of you who would like to work with me despite living outside of London.

Are you plagued by a sense of hopelessness? Do you repeatedly find yourself in dysfunctional relationships or engaging in self-destructive behaviours? Is there a thirst in you for change, and a yearning to break the cycle you’ve been stuck in for as long as you can remember? If so, consciously choosing to enter into a therapeutic relationship may just be the best decision you ever make, and I say this as someone with first-hand experience of the transformative power of counselling or therapy from the perspective of both therapist and client.

Whatever your reason is for being here, I welcome you with open arms, and I hope that what follows gives you some sense of who I am beyond the words I’ve written, and of how I might be able to help you.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Dean Smithers, I’m an integrative counsellor, and I provide an authentic and engaging style of talking-meets-experiential therapy that aims to facilitate deep healing with a lasting impact.

My way of working is characterised by presence, empathy, curiosity and care, and I’m passionately dedicated to building rich and meaningful relationships with each of my clients that lovingly support them in becoming who they are. Together, we’ll grow both your conscious awareness and capacity for self-compassion, and in doing so open the door to genuine change.

As an integrative counsellor, I combine various modalities or approaches to therapy that share the same underlying philosophy and most resonate with me, resulting in a unique and potent style charged by my enthusiasm for its healing potential.

Can you say more about your integration?

At the heart of my practice is a cutting-edge approach to psychotherapy known as Internal Family Systems or IFS, and I integrate humanistic and psychodynamic therapies into this from person-centred and Jungian perspectives respectively. What ties my integration together is the understanding that each of us has a core, undamaged Self, and that the extreme beliefs, emotions and energies we carry from childhood into adulthood can be released in a way that means we suffer less and thrive more.

IFS not only offers a tangible and effective way of doing this, but it also acknowledges—from a curious and compassionate perspective—the various protective parts of us that work so hard to keep our pain at bay, each activated or triggered by a different kind of emotional distress or overwhelm, and although our natural inclination is to resist, fight or rid ourselves of such parts (usually the ones that make us look ‘bad’), it’s only when we hear their stories and acknowledge their concerns that the healing can begin.

IFS means the world to me for many reasons, one of which is the power it affords clients. Simply put, you’re the expert when it comes to you, your experience, your parts and your system. Not only that, but you have everything you need to heal. My job is to support and guide you in a process of self-healing, and to be your co-explorer as we navigate your inner world with respect, curiosity and a desire to bring harmony to it.

Please see my website for more on the model, but know that any parts work we might do will be backed by a robust foundation of deep emotional attunement, genuine empathy and a flare for helping clients make crucial connections between past and present in a way that really hits for them. My integration lends itself to both exploratory and structured ways of working, and we can lean in and out of these depending on what you need.

What experience do you have?

I’ve been working in the field of counselling and psychotherapy for over five years, and as a sponsor in a spiritual context for two years and counting. I hold a CPCAB-accredited and Íø±¬ÃÅ-approved Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and I’m a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, whose Ethical Framework I adhere to.

From August onwards, I’ll be undertaking a 4-month comprehensive Internal Family Systems training program called Stepping Stone.

Please see my website for a formal list of my qualifications and selected CPD relevant to my integration.

Do you specialise in anything?

As it stands, I have experience and a particular interest in making sense of the difficulties people so often experience in relationships. I work predominantly with young adults in their 20s or 30s who find themselves lost in the chaos of those years, and I provide a patient and compassionate space for anyone wanting to address an addiction to porn. You might also choose to work with me for the following reasons:

• To have help managing and getting to the root of anxiety, panic attacks, overwhelm, anger or depression
• To be supported in the questioning of your sexuality, or to deepen your relationship with it
• To move away from self-criticism or even loathing and towards self-acceptance
• To explore the expectations you have of yourself and alleviate the pressure you’re under to meet them
• To reconcile the so-called good and bad in you and live in less of an extreme or polarised way
• To resolve inner conflicts and bring balance back to your system
• To process childhood trauma and abuse
• To free yourself from guilt and shame
• To heal targeted emotional wounds through guided inner work
• To better understand and integrate dreams or spiritual experiences
• To make an all-important mind-body connection, ground your emotions somatically and bring some spirit to your therapeutic work

What will our sessions be like?

There are many ways a session can go, but we’ll always begin with where you are, and the likelihood is we’ll end up learning a bit about how your past shaped your present. Over time, we’ll connect crucial dots and develop a shared understanding of why you find yourself in the situation you’re in, which you can then consciously choose to step out of once you see it for what it is (i.e. a reflection of your childhood, or a life you’re living for others rather than yourself).

Some sessions will simply be about loving you unconditionally as you are, which can be incredibly healing given so many, if not all of us are driven by conditional and false beliefs to do with being a certain kind of person, and only when we are this person are we ‘worthy’ or ‘good enough’. Others might be about putting some distance between you and your anxiety, for example, in a way that means you can relate to it with clarity as part of you rather than all of you. If you’re coming to me for IFS specifically, sessions will be about gaining permission from protective parts to access and heal emotional wounds, and about increasingly becoming your own attachment figure.

Where do we start?

I offer all clients a free introductory session lasting a total of 30 minutes. This gives us a chance to meet, for you to get a sense of how I work, and for me to clarify your needs and how I might best meet them. It’s got to feel right for you, and there’s no pressure to continue unless you’d like to.

If we do decide to work together, an ongoing slot will be discussed and agreed upon collaboratively and a date set for the beginning of our journey.

All you need to do for now is reach out in a way that feels comfortable to you, and I’ll respond as soon as I can (usually within a day or so).