Dean Andrews
Dean is a qualified psychotherapist and counsellor trained in existential and integrative approaches to therapy. He adopts a philosophical approach in his work to help you develop an understanding of what matters to you in your life and help you approach your difficulties in a more meaningful way, which encourages you to find a way to be able to express yourself freely.
Many of the problems we encounter in our lives can confront us with some of life’s biggest issues: freedom of choice (and sometimes feeling we don’t have a choice); anxiety; guilt; uncertainty; responsibility; loneliness; how we relate to others; facing the reality of our own death or the death of a loved one; and, at times, feeling a sense of meaninglessness. These are all part of our lived experience, and they can sometimes seem to make our problems all the more difficult. We can feel ‘stuck’ in our lives and don’t know how to change things.
Dean will draw on his knowledge of a range of therapeutic models to encourage you to think about your values; the labels that you have been given and you have given yourself, and whether they are helpful in understanding your life; and to try to find meaning in your behaviour, coping mechanisms and how you relate to others and the world around you. He can help you to think about the aspects of your life you want to change and learn ways to come to terms with and accept those parts of your life that can’t be changed.
He has a particular interest in how technology, smartphones and AI have such a huge impact on our lives, and how they are fundamentally altering the way we navigate the relational world through the impact of social media, cyberbullying, gaming, misinformation and the proliferation of pornography. These are all impacting on family relationships, marriages and partnerships, friendship, mental and physical wellbeing, our ability to focus and indeed on the nature of therapy itself.
Dean has experience in working with clients who are encountering problems in their sex lives and relationships, or grappling with issues related to their sexuality or sexual health. He has worked with survivors of sexual and physical abuse, as well as people grappling with porn addiction. He approaches this work with great care, tact and sensitivity, fully aware of how difficult it can sometimes be for clients to discuss such intimate, personal and often traumatic matters. He will always aim to put you at ease so that you feel you can share your problems, whether it is in individual or couples therapy.
A registered member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and a member of the Society for Existential Analysis, Dean abides by the codes of ethics of both organisations.
Dean offers:
Existential psychotherapy
Integrative psychotherapy incorporating psychoanalytic and psychodynamic approaches
Psychosexual therapy
Couples therapy
Dean has worked in community-run and non-government charity health settings in Australia and the UK. In the past, he has also worked as a journalist and in the publishing industry, and is currently the production editor for all the publications produced by the Society for Existential Analysis.
