Dr Ramesh Pattni

Distress comes in many forms, many ways, and many times in life. Sometimes you will need help and support to reflect on the distress and seek not only an understanding of your distress but discover ways of adjusting and coping with it. In the long term, you will want to develop resilience to be able to cope with the distress as it inevitably arises.

You may be experiencing continuing low moods and maybe anxiety about the future or the present. Working in the Existential tradition, I am here to be with you in this process and progression and guide you in your journey. We work in a collaborative way to work with and through your distress to a place of centredness and resilience.

Each one of us is a unique individual in the way we experience life and ourselves. Being present with your experience in the moment, I am able to guide you through understanding your experience, the underlying processes, and working together, we look for ways of dealing with your issues in the best and the most effective ways possible.

The use of the title Dr in this directory listing relates to the member’s doctorate qualification. However, this does not imply a general medical qualification.

As an existential psychotherapist, I practice facilitating a mutual, collaborative, encouraging, and explorative dialogue between ourselves -- one of whom is seeking assistance from the other who is professionally trained to provide it. Existential therapy places special emphasis on cultivating a caring, honest, supportive, empathic yet challenging relationship between therapist and client, recognizing the vital role of this relationship in the therapeutic process.

In the sessions, we explore how what you are feeling and thinking in the here-and-now within our relationship and the dynamic interactions in the moment. This might create an understanding of your experiences in the wider world, your past and current experiences, and future expectations of yourself and your life.

This respectful, compassionate, supportive yet nonetheless very real encounter -- coupled with a phenomenological stance – allows me to more accurately comprehend and descriptively address your way of being in the world. This approach is not about imposing my own worldview on you but rather stepping into your world through the encounters in the sessions and recognise contradictions and paradoxes and habitual ways of being. We then explore beliefs and attitudes and your choices that have brought you to experience distress in your life. Exploring meaning, purpose and values as the basis of this worldview, we work together to consider constructive ways of your being in the world through a different approach and different choices.

In the first session, we will get to know each other, talk about your concerns and issues that have brought you to therapy and what you would like to achieve through the subsequent sessions. With the background of your life and current situation, we can begin to put these together to see how we may work together in a collaborative, sensitive, and sensible manner to assist you in managing change in yourself and your life. I would give you some questionnaires to fill for further assessment of your issues and then I would let you know my initial thoughts about how we may proceed with the sessions, my approach in therapy, and how Existential therapy works. I will discuss in some detail the agreement or contract for therapy, the regulations governing confidentiality, and my availability. This allows us to think about whether we can work together in therapy and then we can both decide if we wish to proceed with further sessions or not.