Jamie Kinlochan

I'm available throughout the day, Monday to Thursday. 

I offer evening availability on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I love a metaphor and the best one I have come up with so far about the type of therapy that I do is that in our sessions, I'm trying really hard to be the best travel companion in a car that you are driving. 

I've taken the car to get valeted just before the journey, I've brought all the best snacks and I've lined up the best playlist for us to listen to - I'm doing everything that I can to make it comfortable for you to hold onto the wheel and take us where we're going. I don't have any expectation about the destination, the speed we're going at or what route we take to get there. If it's dark, we'll put the lights on together; if the road is tight, we'll hold our breath as we pass another car together; and if we end up lost, we'll be lost together.

The thing I like best about being a person-centred counsellor is that I don't feel the need to do the stuff that friends, family and colleagues can end up doing. I won't give advice, ask "have you tried doing this..?" or try to push you to take a particular course of action. That's because I work to only one assumption - that you really do know what is best for you. 

I want you to have a caring, non-judgmental and supportive space to say your thing - because I believe that's the starting point for change. 

I grew up in a single parent household, where even though my mum worked all the hours she could, we still struggled financially. My primary school was not invested in and there was no college or university nearby. My high school teachers were banned from talking to me about being gay. And the whole time, I was supposed to think it was my shame to carry.

That's why I think that it is really powerful when we feel heard and understood. When we feel like someone is trying to get who we are and where we’re coming from.

My desire to listen, properly, is based on my years of working with people who have gone unheard by others. It's based on my years of working with people who keep doing things that don't match up with who the person that they want to be. And it's based on my years of working with people who need someone in the room who isn't trying to push them in a direction that doesn't feel right.

I think things can really change when we understand what drives us to do the things we do and when we accept ourselves and all the messy, contradictory, challenging things that come with being a human who is alive today.

My practice as a therapist is underpinned by a COSCA Certificate in Counselling Skills and the Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy that I have received, with Merit, from the University of Strathclyde. It is also informed by my degree in Politics and Social Policy from the University of the West of Scotland, where I thought deeply about how the social pressures that come from our laws, our government policies and our media can leave us feeling judged, shamed and isolated from the people around us.

I think it’s about you having space to accept and understand yourself - no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’re going through. And it's about me helping you create that space for yourself.