I work with men who may look as though they are coping but privately spend a lot of time second-guessing themselves, worrying about getting things wrong or feeling they should be handling things better. You may be hard on yourself, struggle to trust your own decisions, or find that other people’s reactions carry more weight than you want them to.

For some men, this shows up most clearly in relationships — avoiding conflict, keeping things in, putting other people first, feeling responsible for how a partner or family member feels, or losing touch with what you want yourself.

I’m Owen, a BACP-registered psychotherapeutic counsellor working with men in Morpeth, Berwick-upon-Tweed and online across the UK.

My Approach: I take an active role in sessions. I’ll share what I’m noticing, offer gentle challenge when it feels helpful, and bring in ideas or practical strategies that might help. We can look at what has been difficult for you, the expectations you carry, the ways you have learned to cope, and what keeps pulling you back into the same thoughts, feelings or relationship patterns.

Sometimes our work will be reflective, sometimes practical and sometimes more creative. I may use imagery, metaphor or other ways of exploring something when words alone do not quite get to it.

I work integratively, with a person-centred approach at the heart of my work and Transactional Analysis as my main framework, alongside relational and psychodynamic ideas. I am particularly interested in the gap between knowing why you do something and actually being able to do something different when it matters. Therapy can help us work with what happens in those moments and build more choice in how you respond.

What I Work With:

You might find yourself thinking:

• I’m so hard on myself and I don’t know how to stop. • I keep replaying things and wondering if I got them wrong. • I don’t trust my own decisions. • I keep everyone else happy and then realise I don’t know what I want. • I understand why I do this, but I still can’t seem to change it.

I work with anxiety and overthinking, self-criticism, self-doubt, low self-esteem or low self-worth, low mood and depression, relationship difficulties, grief and loss, loneliness, stress and the impact of difficult or traumatic experiences.

A little about me: Before retraining as a therapist, I spent many years in a competitive, performance-focused world and later coaching others. It left me with a lasting interest in how people think, how we respond when a lot feels at stake, and why understanding something intellectually does not always make it easy to change.

That curiosity eventually led me into therapy myself and then into training as a therapist.

Getting Started: I offer a free 15-minute introductory call so we can briefly talk about what has brought you to therapy, you can ask any questions you have, and we can see whether working together feels like a good fit.

There’s no obligation to continue afterwards. If you’d like to go ahead, we can arrange your first session from there.

• Sessions are 50 minutes
• I work with adults (18+)
• In-person sessions in Morpeth & Berwick-upon-Tweed
• Online sessions via Zoom, available throughout the UK