Fiona Brickwood
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist
020 8368 5229

My training was over ten years, involving some 10,000 hours of training work. This involved working with counselling and psychotherapy organisations of varied philosophies, including therapeutic communities, mental health centres and a psychiatric unit. Most of my training has been psychoanalytic, which studies how parental and other environmental influences in early childhood affect the development of our personality and future relationships.

As influences during the earliest years of life are so important, my training involved studying the children and family dynamics of families in a range of situations, from families affected by abuse or by serious psychiatric or physical illness, to those in more fortunate or so-called “normal” circumstances. I have written several papers during my studies with the Tavistock and Lincoln, and attained a postgraduate diploma ratified by the University of East London.

I had additional training at the Cassel and Arbours therapeutic communities, and at the Westminster Pastoral Foundation. I have worked at counselling and therapeutic centres, and at Mind and Richmond Fellowship. I was approved to work in private practice by the Lincoln Clinic and Centre for Psychotherapy and have been working in private practice since 2001.

I have since done further studies in lesbian, gay and transgender studies, including attending various conferences which explore people's varying experiences of working out their sexual orientation or gender, and looking at how others respond to them, in various cultures.

I also worked with the CAVI group (Counselling and Visual Impairment) for some years. This is a group of counsellors, therapists and other professionals which explored the experiences of people affected by visual impairment and disability.

An important theme within these areas of my work has been developing my understanding of the effect of social attitudes towards minority groups that are seen as different, and may be perceived as disadvantaged. We all tend to internalise the attitudes and perceptions that surround us, and when negative attitudes are internalised, these internalised prejudices can be the most problematic.

These research studies have helped to strengthen my therapeutic work in enhancing my clients’ confidence and their ability to determine their own life goals and strive towards these.

I find that as my clients begin to value themselves enough to develop and pursue their life goals, then symptomatic problems - such as depression, low self esteem, lack of confidence, frustrations in relationships or at work - tend to reduce naturally.