Victoria O'Callaghan

I am currently available for online and in-person appointments.

Please contact me for availability. 

Everyone needs support

It might relate to a diagnosis like anxiety, depression or an eating disorder. Perhaps a bereavement, break-up or job loss has left you feeling lost and low. You might have feelings you don't understand or are struggling to manage day to day living. Perhaps you need someone warm and compassionate to help you make sense of past traumatic experiences and mental pain.

Whether you seek support for feelings of anxiety, depression, stress, help with experiences of trauma or the losses shading our lives, I offer a therapeutic service that can help you cultivate the self-awareness needed for lasting change. I can help you make sense of your experiences and develop new ways of living well.

An opportunity to know yourself more deeply

I believe therapy gives us a space to put aside the demands of life and reflect on what matters most to us. Working with me is an invitation to explore current difficulties, past experiences and longings to live more authentically. We think together about how you feel, any patterns and feelings of stuckness, and how these might be protecting you from pain.

While there is no one-size fits all approach to feelings of stuckness or distress, more multidisciplinary research evidences how psychological problems can have roots in early experiences. We will spend time exploring these together, potentially making links between past experiences and present challenges, developing a therapeutic relationship suited to your needs.

Working together

As a psychodynamic and psychoanalytically-oriented practitioner, I have deep respect and compassion for the unconscious patterns, narratives and beliefs we develop in early life. Working psychodynamically means respecting the unique and unexpected influences these have on our lives. With curiosity we can understand how these attempts at protecting ourselves might be blocking our efforts to live creative, fulfilling lives. 

Learning how to live

My practice involves being alongside you as you discover your capacity for living fully as yourself. I provide a safe, reflective space where you can become curious about what this means for you.

My practice is based on three values:

Curiosity: Being open-minded, non-judgemental and inquisitive about our experiences.

Connection: Recognising the bonds we have to others and how interrelatedness affects us all.

Courage: Appreciating the strength it takes to explore difficult experiences in the hope of freeing ourselves from their influence.

I hope that our work together will help you cultivate these, learning to use them when grappling with the complex challenges and joys of being alive in a rich and diverse world.

Ways of working together

Psychological issues are common and there are different ways to approach them. Some can benefit significantly from shorter-term therapy (30 sessions or so) while others may be better suited to longer term, open-ended work.

I work online and in-person. We will meet either once or twice a week, at the same time, for 50 minutes.

My specialisms

I work with people from all walks of life who are experiencing difficulties and feelings of confusion and loss that colour times of transition in our lives.

I specialise working with gender, sexuality and relationship diversity (GSRD), particularly with LGBTQIA+ individuals. I have experience in supporting people through gender-affirming surgery and changing hormone regimens.

I am also very experienced in being alongside creative professionals and young adults navigating the challenges and opportunities for growth accompanying the complex task of growing up.

I am also experienced in fertility-oriented health issues including infertility, PCOS, endometriosis, perimenopause and menopause, as well as supporting expectant and new parents as they adjust to their new identities and responsibilities. 

Finding a therapist can feel overwhelming

I offer a complimentary 15-minute phone call or online appointment to meet one another and think together about the issues and what might help.

Our first session is an opportunity to explore your experiences and see how we work together in more depth. We have an hour together but sometimes it is helpful to have up to 90 minutes.

We'll discuss what brings you to therapy and explore what you might find helpful. I aim to give you a feel for working with me.

We will discuss fees and suitable time to meet every week during this appointment. My fees are negotiable based on your circumstances. We will discuss and agree these before therapy starts.

Following this, we will meet at an agreed upon time for therapy. I like to review how my clients think therapy is going every 6-8 months and will let them know when a review session might be helpful to thinking about how our work together progresses.

If, after an assessment, I believe you would benefit from working with a different therapist or support service, I will make sure to connect you.