Meirion Todd
“Every client is different, so if you’ve any questions I’ve not addressed here, just get in touch.”
- Please leave a message if I am unable to answer when you call. Thank you.
- Email Me
mindfulness & self-compassion are at the heart of how I work as a therapist, for more information please visit my mindfulness & compassion page.
'I know how daunting first sessions can be, so I always try to make them as welcoming as possible
I am an experienced and highly effective psychotherapist and counsellor working in Central London from Old Street EC1, Shoreditch E1, Pimlico SW1 and Chiswick W3.
On this page I will try and answer any questions you may have about therapy. For more information please visit my articles. If you have a question I haven’t addressed or you would like to book an initial appointment please visit my Contact page
What is the difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling?
Short-term work is often referred to as counselling. We may have hit a crisis and need support to help us through it or we may wish to work on one key issue such as stress, redundancy, sexuality or relationship problems (though though this doesn’t mean there isn’t space to bring whatever is important to you to the room).
psychotherapy counselling psychotherapist counsellor old street shoreditch pimlico chiswick
Psychotherapy is longer-term, open-ended work, in which we explore how your past experience and early relationships are still influencing how you respond to life in the present. If we miss out on some of the care we needed as children, longer-term work can offer us a new and better experience of relationship that can help us learn to respond in new ways to life’s challenges and build stronger relationships outside of the therapy room. In addition if we are gay/queer or neurodivergent, we may need a space in which to get to know, nurture and befriend our natures
psychotherapy counselling psychotherapist counsellor old street shoreditch pimlico chiswick
While psychotherapists have to undergo a longer training than counsellors, both will have had to have a significant amount of personal therapy themselves and will be members of either the UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy) or the BACP, (the British Association of Counselling and Pcyhotherapy). If you are looking for a therapist make sure to check out both their qualifications and their membership of these organisations.
What kind of therapist am I?
I’m an integrative therapist, this means that I draw on a number of therapeutic models. My core training was existential, which is a good balance to today’s increasingly medicalised world, and encourages us find our own meaning in life. I also draw on psychodynamic therapy & attachment theory which explores how our early life has shaped who we are today, helps us to befriend our child who is very much still with us, and through this process teaches us how to build safe and stable love relationships. I am also passionate about the buddhist practices of mindfulness & compassion which, in a world which can feel competitive & unforgiving, teaches us to have a kinder and less critical relationship with ourselves and those we love.
What are your qualifications?
I have a Master’s Degree in Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling from the University of Sheffield and am an accredited member of the UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy). Additionally I am a Registered Member of the BACP (the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists) and abide by the ethical codes of both organisations.
Do you offer CBT and is this the most effective way of working?
CBT is a very useful model and is really useful for helping us with overthinking, phobias and the intrusive thoughts that can make problems such as anxiety and depression worse. I’m not a CBT therapist but am informed by later CBT models, in particular those such as Comapssion Focussed CBT and Mindfulness Based CBT and bring this into how I work where appropriate. As an autistic person I have found therapy in which there is too much space and a lack of guidance from the therapist to be quite distressing. So what I’ve borrowed from CBT is that I take a more active role to support and guide you through the process, though I am more likely to use practical neuroscience, attachment theory and mindfulness & compassion than traditional CBT.
What will the first session be like?
The first session is an opportunity for us to find out a bit about each other, for you to decide if I am the right therapist for you and, if so, an opportunity to think about what you’d like to work on in our sessions. We will discuss how things are for you at the moment and what’s brought you to therapy.
I won’t need to know very much about you before the first session. You won’t have to do any prep, just come along ready for us to sit down together and find out what you’d like to address and the things you want to change. First sessions can be be intimidating but it’s my job to make you feel safe and welcome and to help you to talk about what you need to talk about.
The therapy hour is 50 minutes long and if we decide to work together we will meet at the same agreed time every week for a period that varies between a few months to more than a year. Some clients prefer fortnightly sessions, and often clients who start with me weekly, will then step back their sessions to fortnightly and eventually we will meet monthly. However, the amount of ‘talking’ we each have in us varies from person to person & this is something we can explore in our first session.
How much do you charge, do you accept Health Insurance clients, and what is your cancellation policy?
I charge £80 per session. Once I’ve assigned you a slot, I will require 48 hours notice to rearrange or cancel a session excepting emergencies. Where possible I will try to find you an alternate slot that week so you don’t lose the session (though this isn’t always posible). For the time we agree to work together your time slot belongs to you and we will meet at that time each week or fortnight. Note that if you are assigned a fortnighly session, you will be assigned a pair who meets on the altnernate weeks, so you will not be able to move your session forward. Clients may take 6 weeks holiday from their slots per year (in addition to my holidays), after that missed sessions must be paid for. I work with a wide range of private health insurers, chiefly AXA and AVIVA. If you would like to check out with me if I work with your insurer, please get in touch.
I think I am neurodivergent, can therapy help?
I am one of small number of ‘out’ autistic pychotherapists and am passionate about providing a safe haven for neurodivergent clients to explore their traits and neurotypes, whether they are curious, self-realised or already diagnosed. This process isn’t easy and often involves self-doubt and a fear of claiming an identiy we fear doesn’t belong to us, alongside a creeping sense that, since childhood, we have felt different in some way. Typically we may have struggled with aspects of life others take for granted, such as school & university, the politics of the workplace, holidays and family gatherings, feelings of intense social anxiety (as well as having a much lower bandwidth for group socialising), struggled with small talk, and often experienced heightened sensory issues, all of which can lead to autistic burnout.
I am experienced in working with the full range of neurodivergences, Autism, ADHD, ADD, AUDHD, Dyspraxia/Dyslexia/Dyscalcula, OCD and High Sensitivity (often called HSP). As a PDAer myself, I am also one of few psychotherapists experienced in working with those with Pathological Demand Avoidance/Persistent Desire for Autonomy as well as their parents. In addition, as many neurodivergent folk experience the world more inensely (sometimes called an intense world experience) traditional therapy where the therapist allows long silences and waits to be led by the client can be very distressing for us so I try to make my therapy room warm and accepting and provide more of a framework for clients to explore their experience of neurodivergence.
How do I find the right therapist?
This is a really important question and the answer to this isn’t simply a matter of therapeutic models or qualifications (though both of these are important). To begin, it’s important for the protection of the client to find a therapist who is qualified: for counsellors this means having a diploma, for psychotherapists a master’s degree. Additionally therapists must be members of one or both of the professional organisations for therapists, the UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy) and the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). Both organisations have websites and lists of accredited therapists. Here is the BACP website and here is the UKCP website .
Once you’ve made sure that your potential therapist is adequately qualified the most important thing is fit. Counselling and Psychotherapy aren’t like other branches of medicine or healthcare, what’s important is that you like your therapist and feel that you can work with them. Much of the work in therapy is addressing the lack of fit many of us felt with our parents or schools, so it is really important that you find a therapist who is a good fit with you. The best advice is to go with your gut: intuition is the most important factor in finding a therapist who is the right fit for you. If you’d prefer a male or female therapist then take that seriously. Similarly, if you’d like to explore identity issues and would rather work with a black therapist or a therapist who speaks your mother tongue, or a therapist who shares your sexuality or your experience of gender then again it’s important to listen to your feelings. For me, fit is far more important than theory in most cases.
There are exceptions to this rule however. If there is trauma in your backstory then I would seek out a psychotherapist with experience in trauma therapy & EMDR. Similarly, if you have ever received a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder or emotinally unstable personaltiy disorder then finding someone with experience in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy or DBT can be life changing. Crucially, therapy doesn’t work for everyone. If the thought of sitting in a room talking for hours talking makes you want to run for the hills take this seriously. The more structured and goal-oriented approach of CBT could be a better fit for you.
psychotherapy psychotherapist counsellor counselling old street shoreditch pimlico chiswick
However, no matter the orientation, the golden rule of finding the right therapist for you is that when you sit down with them you think ‘yes, I can talk to / work with this person’. If not, then they probably aren’t the right therapist for you.