Dr Tom Cotton - Therapy Harley Street, Psychotherapist London, integrative psychotherapist, executive coach London

Dr Tom Cotton, Psychotherapist, BA (Hons), MSc, PsychD, UKCP Reg., MUPCA (Accred.)

Tom is an experienced psychotherapist, who works in depth with clients – both individuals and couples – treating issues ranging from relationship difficulties to complex mental health problems. He also works with people who are looking for new directions, and are keen to find out more about themselves.

Tom draws on psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, integrative and relational approaches to psychotherapy, but believes that while the theories underpinning these approaches are useful, each person’s situation is unique. He aims to help clients to develop a greater understanding of the unseen patterns of behaviour that can underlie psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, psychosis and addiction. In working with these patterns it is then possible to address the life experiences they might relate to, such as trauma, difficult family dynamics, abandonment and loss.

Tom qualified as a psychotherapist in 2008 (MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Roehampton University, London), and gained his PsychD in Psychotherapy and Counselling, also at Roehampton in 2016, and his certificate in Executive Coaching from Tavistock Consulting in 2017. Before working in private practice, Tom worked in a number of roles in mental health, including counselling in a London NHS GP practice, and managing a West London residential therapeutic community for clients with schizophrenia, Borderline Personality Disorder diagnoses, and addiction issues. This role involved working closely with clients’ psychiatrists and family members, supervising other psychotherapists, and teaching on a two-year postgraduate diploma in psychoanalytic studies.

Before training as a psychotherapist, Tom worked as a writer and director in the film industry for ten years, and holds a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Film and Video from Central Saint Martins School of Art (1999). Alongside his psychotherapy practice, Tom also works as an organisational consultant and executive coach. He is Co-Founder of Narrative Dynamics, a leadership consultancy, and Founder and Programme Director of Mind Environment, a personal development and leadership consultancy that runs programmes in France and Scotland.

Publications and conferences 

Recent published work includes chapters in Critical Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and Post-Existentialism and the Psychological Therapies (Karnac 2011)
Recent conference presentations include Critical Psychotherapy, Freud Museum, London 2015; RCTE & CREST joint research conference, Roehampton University 2015; Regents College Arts Festival, London 2014; and the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS) 2013 annual conference, Warsaw; Phototherapy Europe Symposium, Learning and Healing with Phototherapy, Turku, Finland (2011).

Professional bodies membership