Richard Higgs

- My practice is currently on pause until March 2025

- I offer in-person sessions from my therapy room on the corner of Bridge Street and Deansgate in central Manchester at a time to suit. Postcode: M3 2GX.

- My rate is from £60 per hour.

- I have a limited number of spaces available at a concessionary rate of £45 per hour. Please ask for further details. 

- If you can't make it to a session we can conduct the session online, however I no longer offer solely online counselling.

I am a BACP registered integrative counsellor and psychodynamic therapist who has practised in various sectors, including charity, educational and NHS organisations. I currently work in private practice either online or in person from my therapy room in central Manchester with adults and young people to address their individual needs and struggles.

In short-term or open-ended work, I gently guide clients to better understand their connections or disconnections in relation to themselves, their experiences, and others.

The relationship between therapist and client is a unique one, being very different from speaking with family or friends. I will tailor my counselling technique to cater for your specific needs, drawing on humanistic, psychodynamic and third generation approaches to help you make sense of your struggles and bring about the positive change you deserve.

Areas that I help clients explore include, low mood, depression, PTSD, personality disorders, suicide, anxiety disorders, attachment disorders, parenting struggles, family issues, relationship breakdowns, trauma, addiction, self-harm, eating disorders, body image issues, emotional and sexual abuse, bereavement, loss, gender and identity issues, sexuality, sexual orientation issues, and illness.

My priority as a counsellor and psychotherapist is to provide a safe, non-judgemental, and confidential space for you to just ‘be’ without any expectation, so you can explore any issues or struggles that are impacting your life. You may know what these struggles are, or you may not have the words or an understanding of what is going on for you. And that is okay. You may come to therapy with a set idea of what you want to explore, or you may come to therapy with just a hunch that something isn’t right. Therapy isn’t linear but I’ll be transparent in our work together and guide you in what can be difficult but ultimately enlightening work.

Our work together may involve observations of our interactions during our sessions together as this can give an insight into what is going on in your relationships outside the counselling relationship. And it may also involve uncovering hidden defences or behavioural patterns using various humanistic, psychodynamic, or third-generation techniques to give you a greater insight into your true self in order for you to live in a more authentic and satisfying way. We’ll review our work regularly and you are free to stop counselling at any time, although I would always recommend working towards a meaningful ending.

There is no charge for an initial 20-min telephone or online (Zoom) conversation. This is an opportunity for me to find out a bit about you and for you to ask questions.

Should you agree to go ahead, I will email out a therapy agreement for you to sign, which includes details of our working alliance, the session time and day and agreed rate and payment details. I will also send out a form to complete with your personal details.

The first session is more of an assessment session where I'll be asking more questions than normal. It’s just so I can find out a bit more about you and your current circumstances and history and what brings you to counselling at this time. In the first session, I might take a few notes, but in future sessions I tend not to.