Kerry Smith

For most of these years I’ve specialised in working with people experiencing anxiety (including OCD, panic, health anxiety, GAD and social anxiety), depression, low self-esteem, stress and burnout, loss, anger and relationship and family strain. What I continue to find powerful, is how a conversation in a compassionate space opens up possibilities for people who before the process began, felt quite differently about themselves and the future. When someone joins me collaboratively in that conversation it liberates them as they better understand the context and nuance of why they see the world in the way they do. It is more insightful than the voice they have carried around in their head for most of their life that says, “You’re the problem. You’re to blame”.

I take an integrative approach to therapy and primarily draw upon Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Compassion-Focussed Therapy (CFT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Buddhist Psychology. I will collaborate with you to find out what is needed, developing a deep and practical understanding of your difficulties, interwoven with identifying the steps needed to make change and feel better. My natural relationship style is down-to-earth and compassionate, using
creative problem-solving and humour to tackle the struggles that life throws at us.

I was born and raised in East Anglia, and moved to London in 1995 to undertake undergraduate and Masters degrees at the University of East London. Then followed a career centred on London and Cambridgeshire, plus a sunny spell
working clinically in Brisbane, Australia. I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, accredited to practice CBT by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, and hold Associate Fellowship of the
British Psychological Society.