Anxiety & overthinking
Your mind keeps asking “what if?”, replaying conversations or anticipating problems. It’s hard to switch off, even when things seem fine.
Private Therapy & CBT in Ferndown, Dorset
Therapy that starts with understanding you
Perhaps anxiety, stress or overthinking is taking up more of your life than you would like. You may have tried to work things out yourself—or had therapy before—but still feel stuck.
I’m Chris, a BABCP-accredited CBT psychotherapist. We’ll start with what’s happening in your life, what you’ve already tried and what you would like to be different.
My approach draws on CBT, mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and transformative approaches. You don’t need to know which approach you need before we speak.
A conversation with me to explore what you need, ask questions and see whether working together feels right. Meet me on Zoom, or request a phone call. No obligation to book therapy.
In person in Ferndown, Dorset · Online across the UK
£95 per 55-minute session
BABCP-accredited14 years’ NHS experienceFormer Senior Lecturer in CBTWorked with 6,000+ people
Recommended by a GP
“I refer to him with confidence and hear great feedback from clients who’ve benefited from his broad skills and experience.”
Dr Tom Willsher, GP
What would you like help with?
You might be getting on with life while finding things difficult underneath. Or perhaps things have reached a point where you know something needs to change.
I work with adults experiencing difficulties including anxiety, panic, stress, burnout, depression, OCD, trauma and low self-esteem.
Stress & burnout
You feel overwhelmed, worn down or constantly under pressure. Rest no longer seems enough, and you don’t quite feel like yourself.
OCD & panic
Intrusive thoughts, checking or rituals are taking up your time, or fear of another panic attack is starting to limit what you do.
Trauma & PTSD
Difficult experiences still feel present through upsetting memories, feeling on edge or avoiding reminders of what happened.
Depression & low mood
You feel low, have lost interest in things you usually enjoy, or find yourself withdrawing from everyday life. Getting started can feel difficult, and you may be caught in self-critical thoughts.
Low self-esteem & perfectionism
You’re hard on yourself, doubt your worth or feel that nothing you do is quite good enough. High standards may be leaving you anxious, stuck or exhausted.
You don’t need to fit neatly into a category or arrive knowing exactly what the problem is. We can begin with what life feels like for you.
Tried CBT before and it didn’t help?
It makes sense to feel cautious about trying again, especially if you put time and effort into therapy without getting the help you hoped for.
Having tried CBT before doesn’t mean you already know what working with me would be like. Therapists bring different experience, perspectives and ways of working.
I’d want to understand your previous experience, rather than assume you need to repeat it. What was helpful? What wasn’t? Did you feel understood? Was something important missing from the work?
CBT is part of my approach, but it isn’t the whole of it. Alongside practical ways of working with difficulties, we can explore how you see yourself, how you relate to your thinking and what you might not yet be noticing.
We’ll agree a focus together and keep talking about whether the work is helping. Your feedback matters—especially when something doesn’t make sense or isn’t useful.
The free introductory call gives you a chance to meet me, explain what you’re looking for and hear how I might approach it. You don’t need to commit to more therapy before having that conversation.
Simple, relatable therapy—with room to see things differently
CBT provides an evidence-based foundation for my therapy work. I draw on other approaches where they are relevant, while keeping our work focused on what you need and what we are trying to change.
Feeling heard, seen and understood
I want you to feel that you can explain what’s happening without having to tidy it up first.
My job is to listen carefully, take your experience seriously and help make sense of it with you. I use straightforward language and everyday examples, rather than making things more complicated than they need to be.
We’ll start where you are and work together on what would help you move forward.
Understanding the patterns—and looking beyond them
One thing I value in CBT is its recognition that how we think, feel and behave can influence one another. It gives us a useful starting point for understanding what happens in difficult situations and exploring different responses.
But our work doesn’t have to stop at identifying thoughts or learning techniques.
Sometimes we’ll explore your relationship with your thoughts: how seriously you take them, what you feel you have to do about them, and whether they are telling you the whole story.
At other times, the most useful work will be practical—approaching something you’ve been avoiding, changing a habit or dealing with a pressure in your life.
We’ll discuss what we’re doing and why, so the work makes sense to you.
Discovering your psychological blindspots
We all have what I call psychological blindspots: familiar assumptions or ways of seeing things that we don’t readily notice in ourselves.
Perhaps “I’m not good enough” feels like a fact about who you are, rather than a thought you have become used to believing. Or perhaps you feel you must be completely certain before making a decision, without noticing how that search for certainty is keeping you stuck.
Part of my work is helping you notice these blindspots and explore a different way of seeing things.
This isn’t about me telling you how to think. It’s about discovering something for yourself that gives you more room to respond differently.
More than talking about the problem
Being able to talk openly matters. But the purpose of our work is to help something change—not simply to keep describing what’s wrong.
That might mean doing something differently in everyday life. It might also mean a shift in how you understand yourself, so you feel less caught up in the need to constantly manage, improve or fix yourself.
I don’t see therapy as fixing a broken person. I see it as helping you work through what’s happened, understand what’s keeping you stuck and reconnect with your own capacity for wellbeing.
Your circumstances matter too. We’ll take account of the relationships, demands and practical difficulties you’re facing, rather than reducing everything to your thinking.
My aim is for what you learn and discover to remain useful after our sessions have ended—not for you to depend on therapy to keep moving forward.
The experience I bring
I spent 14 years working in the NHS, including as a Senior Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, and five years as a Senior Lecturer teaching CBT at university.
Across my clinical and coaching work, I’ve worked with more than 6,000 people. I’m also the author of A Clear Mind: The Less Is More Mindset to Wellbeing & Performance.
What matters in our sessions is how I use that experience to understand the person in front of me.
I bring knowledge and a fresh perspective; you bring your experience of your own life. We’ll work things out together.
What happens next?
- 01
Start with a free 20-minute call
Tell me a little about what’s brought you here, what you’ve already tried and what you would like help with. You can ask questions and get a feel for how I work.
We’ll meet on Zoom, or you can request a telephone call instead.
- 02
Explore whether working together feels right
We’ll discuss whether my approach seems appropriate for what you need. If I think another type of support would be more suitable, I’ll say so.
There is no obligation to book a session.
- 03
Begin therapy
Should you decide to go ahead, we’ll arrange your first appointment. We’ll take time to understand what’s happening, agree what we’re working towards and review things as we go.
Private therapy in Ferndown and online
I offer face-to-face therapy from my practice in Ferndown, Dorset, for people living locally and travelling from Wimborne, Bournemouth, Poole, Verwood, Ringwood, West Moors and the surrounding area.
I also work online with adults across the UK. For online sessions, you’ll need a private space where you can talk comfortably.
Individual sessions are £95 and last 55 minutes. The initial 20-minute call is free.
I also accept Bupa and Aviva clients for therapy. Please mention your insurance when you get in touch so we can discuss the arrangements, and check any authorisation requirements with your insurer.
Questions you might have
Why choose private therapy when NHS therapy is free?
NHS therapy is a valuable option, with CBT available free for many mental health difficulties.
Choosing to work with me privately means choosing me as your therapist, with an opportunity to meet me and discuss my approach before committing.
We can talk about what you need, your previous experiences of therapy and whether the way I work feels right for you.
Private therapy is a financial commitment. The introductory call is there to help you make an informed choice—not to persuade you to book something that isn’t appropriate.
Do I need to know which type of therapy I want?
No. You can come with a particular approach in mind, or simply know that you need some help.
We’ll discuss what you’re experiencing and what might be useful. You don’t need to choose between CBT, mindfulness or other approaches before speaking to me.
What do you mean by “transformative approaches”?
I mean exploring whether a different understanding of yourself or your thinking could help change your experience of a problem—not only finding more ways to manage it.
That might involve noticing a psychological blindspot, questioning an assumption you’ve treated as a fact, or discovering that you don’t have to respond to every worrying or self-critical thought.
We’ll connect those conversations to your life and what you would like to change.
Will I need to do work between sessions?
Where it would be helpful, we may agree something to explore or practise between appointments.
That could be trying a different response in a difficult situation or noticing a pattern as it happens. We’ll discuss the purpose and make it realistic for your circumstances.
How many sessions will I need?
That depends on what you’re seeking help with and what we agree is appropriate.
We’ll discuss a possible course of therapy after understanding your needs, then review progress together. You can also raise questions about time, cost or the direction of the work.
Let’s start with a conversation
You don’t need to be certain about therapy—or know exactly how to explain what’s wrong—to get in touch.
Tell me a little about what’s happening. Ask the questions that matter to you. Then decide whether you’d like to take the next step together.
Meet me on Zoom, or request a phone call. No obligation to continue.
