Laura Barnett

I am an existential psychotherapist and supervisor registered in the United Kingdom (through UKCP and BACP (Sen. accred.)) and in Europe (through the EAP). I now work privately in Lewes, after 20 years in an NHS hospital, where I ran two specialised psychotherapy services - for cancer patients and their carers, and for post-Intensive Care patients.

My private work is general. I enjoy working with whatever issues you bring, while bearing in mind the broader context. I have a strong interest in the way we carry, in our bodies, developmental issues, past traumas as well as the stresses of everyday life. I thus integrate Sensorimotor Psychotherapy into my existential work. This is a body-focused trauma therapy informed by the neuroscientific research of recent years. I also bring a systemic perspective from Systemic Constellations, observing and working with familial patterns, burdens and resources.  

You can choose to come either for a few sessions, over a few weeks or months, or else on a longer-term basis.

I work face-to-face , online and on the phone. Although I prefer to be with clients face-to-face, I am amazed at how well one can build a good therapeutic relationship without ever meeting face-to-face. However, it is easier to observe how the body reacts and interacts when face-to-face, for instance when working with trauma.

Publications:

The Heart of Therapy: developing compassion, understanding and boundaries, (2023) London: Routledge

This book illustrates the way I integrate these three different therapeutic approaches in my work with clients. The book has received excellent reviews and has been recommended for trainee and experienced therapists alike; it is also suitable for the interested lay person.

Also for Routledge, two (co)edited books:

When Death Enters the Therapeutic Space (2008)  

Existential Therapy: legacy, vibrancy ad dialogue. (co-edited with Greg Madison) (2011)

For more information see my website www.laurabarnett.co.uk

There are many ways of practising Existential Therapy. I see it as involving both a particular way of being as a therapist and a way of approaching issues. I like to be genuine, open, non-judgemental and warm, yet I am prepared to challenge you. I do not impose interpretations, nor do I label.

I try to understand without pre-conceived ideas what a specific issue means for you, and together we can explore its context (present and past) and its possible impact on the future. At the same time, I bear in mind the universal existential issues which may offer a broader backdrop to the presenting issue (eg mortality) or open up vistas (e.g. freedom of choice).

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, in line with neuroscientific research and other trauma therapies, holds that memories and feelings can lay dormant in the body for decades until some event (an accident, bullying at work, or something appararently trivial) suddenly reawakens them. The body can also hold powerful unspoken beliefs about ourselves and the world.

As we learn to communicate with our body, we learn to understand the emotional charge and the associated beliefs which it is holding and facilitate their expression. We can also learn to develop embodied resources, discharge pent-up states, as well as gain a new sense of mastery. If you want, we can integrate a number of exercises derived from Sensorimotor psychotherapy. These do not necessitate the use of touch.

There are times when a person’s problem somehow does not make sense, does not feel as if it belongs to the person alone, or seems to be part of a broader picture. Sometimes complex family dynamics need reflecting upon from a new perspective. In such situations I might ask you to use cushions from my sofa, or, if online, objects in your room to get a visual and embodied sense of the context. This can be surprisingly enlightening.

My book The Heart of Therapy: developing compassion, understanding and boundaries, offers futher details and numerous examples.

For the first session, I offer a choice of 20 minutes free, or else a full 50 minute session at my regular rate