Anthony Austin

I offer sessions in person or via telephone or video link

I am an integrative psychotherapist offering short and long-term therapy to adults, in  person in Brighton & Hove, and remotely via telephone and video both nationally and internationally. I work in private practice, for Employee Assistance Programmes and more recently have been providing therapy for clients of the Victim Support Unit of the East Sussex Police Service.

I specialise in working with a broad range of issues including:

1. Bereavement
2. Depression
3. anxiety
4. anger management
5. relationship issues
6. low self-esteem
7. personal development

I see my role as creating a safe, empathic space where you can explore the issues that concern you and to help you develop a deeper level of insight and understanding. Through this process of exploration and reflection, individuals can explore their history, heal old wounds and create a healthier and happier future for themselves.

I have worked in a variety of industries and so understand the pressures we face in the modern workplace. I believe that therapy can provide us with the tools to manage our feelings, understand ourselves at a deeper level and enable us to live happier, more integrated lives.

In my work, I begin with an initial assessment where we identify what your goals are from therapy. Once we have agreed on what you would like to address in our sessions we then begin to explore your history and how past experiences may have informed how you feel about yourself, how you interact with others and your ability to make choices for yourself. 

I believe that, creating lasting, positive change,  requires a commitment from the client and this may require work outside of our sessions. I recommend further reading to help you explore issues that arise in our sessions and I also suggest that you keep a journal through the course of our sessions. Keeping a journal is one of the most powerful tools for developing insight and understanding and helps you reflect on the material that arises in the session and in your day to day life. 

As you learn to reflect and process your feelings you gain greater insight into what motivates your behaviour and you can learn to make healthier choices for yourself. Ultimately, you learn to internalise the process which begins in therapy and become your own therapist. When this skill is sufficiently strong, then therapy can come to an end.  

Our first session will take the form of an assessment where I gain some background into your life and what has prompted you to seek therapy. This will give you a chance to experience how it will be working with me and I can get an idea about whether I can help you meet your goals. 

It is an important part of my work as an ethical practitioner that I only work within my area of expertise and if I think your needs lie outside of my capabilities I will refer you on to someone I think it is more appropriate for you to work with. 

If we agree to work together at the first session, I suggest a course of six weekly sessions and then review the work we have done. Reviewing the work is important so that you feel your needs are being met and you are working towards your goals.

If we agree that the work is helping you, we continue to work together until you feel you have reached your goals. I think weekly sessions are most effective in helping you meet your goals as quickly as possible but I understand that this is not practical financially and so am happy to adjust the frequency of sessions depending on personal circumstances.