Find your therapist

I have been a counsellor for over 20 years, working with people of all ages and from many different social and cultural backgrounds. I love working online because it brings a clear and powerful focus to communication, supporting the positive changes my clients are seeking to make in their lives.

I have worked in education and counselling for most of my working life, beginning as a teacher in adult and further education, then as a university lecturer, a head of department and wellbeing services manager. I have worked as a counsellor since 1999. I am a big music fan, an animal lover, traveller and an outdoorsy person – but I love cities too! I really enjoy my counselling work because I love people. We are all so different – and yet we share that essential thing of being human and living in this extraordinary, beautiful and sometimes cruel and terrifying world. If you choose to work with me, I will do my utmost to help you, to respect your uniqueness as a person, and to be with you in working through whatever issues your bring to the counselling sessions.

I am a UKCP-registered integrative existential psychotherapist with extensive experience in delivering long and short term psychotherapy to individuals and couples. I have 14 years’ experience of working therapeutically in higher education, the NHS and in private practice.

As an integrative existential psychotherapist, I am particularly interested in how we make meaning of the world and of our lives, and how this affects our day to day functioning. Experiencing a crisis of meaning can be a major source of stress and anxiety. If your life starts to feel meaningless, you may end up in a hopeless and depressed state. The therapist’s role is to support you to navigate the difficult feelings that can arise in the process and help you find renewed purpose in your life.

I combine elements from different schools in my approach to psychotherapy, including psychodynamic, humanistic, existential, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and mindfulness. I have worked with clients experiencing many different issues, including (but not limited to) anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addictions, relationship issues and religious and spiritual matters. I am experienced in supporting team members and managers with work-based conflicts. Additionally, I have considerable experience in supporting clients with diagnosed mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, personality disorders and clinical depression.

Qualifications:

Professional Doctorate in Psychotherapy (2012)

Masters Degree in Psychotherapy (2008)

Post-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Supervision (2008)

Post-Graduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling, (2004)

Research and Publications:

Conference Presentations:

Cassar, S. (2015). Existential spirituality: navigating the maze of spiritual thinking within existential psychotherapy. World Conference for Existential Therapy. London

Cassar, S. (2011). The Impact of Psychotherapists’ Spiritual Practice, Beliefs and Values on their Clinical Work: preliminary findings. Theology and Therapy 2011 Day Conference. Edinburgh University.

Publications:

Aceijas, C., Waldhäusl, S., Lambert, N., Cassar, S., Bello Corassa, R., (2016) Determinants of health-related lifestyles among university students. Perspectives in Public Health

Vahrmeyer, M and Cassar, S (2017) The paradox of finitude in the context of infinitude: Is death denial an essential aspect of being in the world? Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis. 28.1: 151-165

Cooper, M., Wild, C., van Rijn, B., Ward, T., McLeod, J., Cassar, S., Antoniou, P., Michael, C., Michalitis, M., Sreenath, S. (2015) Pluralistic Therapy for Depression: Acceptability, outcomes and helpful aspects in a multisite study. Counselling Psychology Review. 30(1): 6-20

Cassar, S. and P. Shinebourne (2012). “What does Spirituality Mean to You?: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Spirituality. Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis. 23(1): 133-148.

I am a fully qualified counsellor, accredited members of both the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapists (BACP) and College of Sexual & Relationship Therapists (COSRT).  I am passionate about what I do and repeatedly hear the benefits of my work from client feedback.
I have a wealth of experience working with individual adults and young people and I also work with couples.  I regularly see clients with issues such as depression, anxiety, self esteem, relationship issues including sexual difficulties, domestic abuse, pain, trauma, stress, bereavement and loss and other issues which could be causing a significant detrimental impact.
​I personally as well as professionally have discovered the benefits of counselling; talking to someone who is independent has helped me to understand myself better and has enabled me to find solutions and to move forward.
I am fully insured, DBS checked and follow data protection policy and guidelines. .

I am the founder of V2Recovery where I work with individuals, couples and families. I have a passion in helping and supporting people experiencing any form of relationship distress and aim to make a difference in their quality of life. I use a relational approach in my work that brings the amazing benefits of therapy that attends to emotional and physical health in treating depression, trauma, and addiction. I have special interest in treating Post Traumatic stress.

I am a person-centred trained counsellor in practice since 2003 and a member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). I am also a career coach, and am currently training for a diploma in counselling supervision. While I am training I charge £25 per hour for supervision.

All sessions are 60 minutes.

I’m based in Finchley, north London, and offer face to face and on-line counselling. I have many years experience working with people by Skype, Facetime, Zoom and other online platforms, as well as telephone. I do not offer text-only based support.

If any of the following describe your situation I am able to support you:

• Life issues: Career, Work and Redundancy, Identity, Relationships, Sexuality, Spirituality, Loss and Bereavement
• Anxiety and Stress: Fear or Phobia, Panic Attacks, Stress, Post-Traumatic Stress
• Feeling low: Feeling a lack of meaning, Anger, Low self-esteem, Unhappiness or Loneliness, Depression

Finding the right counsellor is an important step, the fact that you are here means that you have already made the biggest step in recognising you would like some support. 

Counselling is a safe space to offload and explore what’s going on for you. Counselling is not about me telling you what to do.  It might be helpful to provide you with coping techniques and strategies to support you to find your own way forward.

I will provide with you my time, commitment and compassion to your needs in a safe and comfortable environment. In working together, this may ease your distress and worries, by breaking things down into sizeable chunks.

Counselling may include exploring your past or recognising where low feelings/emotions maybe coming from.  This can support you to evaluate your needs for now and the future.  When considering a way forward, it is natural to experience anxiety or worry about what may happen, I can provide you with ways to support this and encourage your personal development.