Psychotherapists in Manchester

Psychotherapy in Greater Manchester is delivered by a wide mix of private practitioners, from sole therapists working in suburbs such as Sale, Didsbury and Chorlton to small practices that also offer training or workplace support. Many see clients in person and online, and draw on different traditions, from person-centred counselling to integrative and transpersonal approaches.

This selection looks at three psychotherapy practices in and around Manchester: Atticus Psychotherapies, A Space to Be and Pathlight.

Atticus Psychotherapies is a psychological therapies practice based in Sale, Trafford, serving South Manchester and the wider UK through both in-person and video appointments. Co-directed by Keira O’Dell, a BABCP-accredited psychotherapist, the practice brings together clinical psychologists and therapists with experience across NHS, private and specialist settings. Its work covers a broad range of emotional and psychological difficulties, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, relationship concerns and the effects of difficult or traumatic experiences. Atticus also has particular experience in Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD).

The practice begins its therapeutic process with an initial telephone consultation, intended to establish whether Atticus Psychotherapies can offer appropriate support and to identify which clinician or specialism may be most relevant. Where therapy is suitable, this is followed by a one-to-one assessment. Therapy sessions are then delivered on an individual basis, with regular reviews of goals and progress, and the process ends with a final review. The team provides support for adults, adolescents and families.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is among the principal approaches offered, alongside Cognitive Analytic Therapy and Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, known as EMDR, is offered for people affected by traumatic or distressing events. Its clinicians are members of relevant professional and regulatory bodies, including the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, the Health and Care Professions Council, the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy and the EMDR Association.

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A Space to Be is a counselling and psychotherapy practice in Didsbury, South Manchester, run by Kirsty Taylor. She is a fully qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, with a BA (Hons) and a postgraduate diploma in psychotherapy and counselling, and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Sessions take place face to face in Didsbury, online or over Zoom, and she works with clients from anywhere in the UK.

Her approach is humanistic and person-centred: the client is treated as the expert in their own life, and the therapist walks alongside them as they find the strategies and coping mechanisms already within them. Counselling is open-ended, usually weekly at first and then fortnightly or monthly as the main work is done, and the sessions leave room to talk, to sit in silence or to work creatively. The practice supports people with issues such as self-esteem and confidence, and works with both short-term difficulties and long-term, complex ones.

A Space to Be also offers wellbeing and leadership solutions for businesses. With a network of associates, Kirsty can deliver wellbeing audits, one-to-one counselling for employees, wellbeing clinics for staff, support for leaders on team issues, training and development, and a tailored alternative to employee assistance programmes. Before moving into counselling she led large teams on employability and health programmes in the public, private and voluntary sectors, and she has contributed to features on wellbeing in the media.

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Pathlight is the Manchester practice of Paul Wolstenholme, an integrative transpersonal psychotherapist and Mental Health First Aid instructor. He holds a postgraduate diploma in counselling and psychotherapy from the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy (CCPE) in London, after a five-year training that included more than 650 hours of voluntary client work with adults, and he is an accredited member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy and a senior accredited member of the BACP.

Integrative means that he has trained in several therapeutic approaches, including person-centred, transpersonal, psychoanalytic, Transactional Analysis, CBT, Gestalt and existential work, and applies a blend of them to each client’s needs. He is trauma-informed and Internal Family Systems informed, works with adults on an open-ended basis or for shorter periods, and uses creative methods such as dreamwork, visualisation, active imagination, art therapy, sand play, breathwork and the symbolism of myths and archetypes. He also offers ecotherapy, or walk and talk therapy, in natural surroundings. His clients are adults from diverse backgrounds, and the issues he works with include anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, and family and relationship challenges.

Alongside individual psychotherapy, Pathlight runs group therapeutic workshops on deep themes and provides accredited Mental Health First Aid training for organisations, as an independent instructor member of MHFA England, with courses from half a day to two days, online and in person across England. Therapy is available online or in person at rooms in Manchester city centre, Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Saddleworth.