Matteo Oriani
Counselling & Image-based therapy
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”― Carl Gustav Jung
There are moments in life when we need to pause and turn inside.
Anxious feelings and dissatisfaction with ourselves and our life can surface in very painful ways. Maybe something happened - redundancy, breakup, illness, or the passing of a loved one - that shook your foundations and left you wondering.
What is the picture of my life missing?
I offer a safe space where to explore together what is going on with you without judgement, to find a better understanding of why you may feel the way you do, and find new possibilities of being and feeling.
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and follow the BACP's ethical framework.
I offer private and confidential therapy in Islington, and London Bridge, online and outdoor - ‘walk and talk’ therapy.
Visit Locations to explore more.
I offer therapy in English and Italian - offro psicoterapia anche in Italiano.
I am accredited with Vitality Health and IPRS. If you have a policy with one of these insurances, then the cost of the sessions will be covered by them.
Get in contact to explore how we can work together
Sometimes, words alone don’t capture the depth of our experience.
Therefore I work with techniques based on imagination and mindfulness to stimulate deep awareness and create change.
I work with a wide range of issues, but I have special expertise and experience in:
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Anxiety and negative/obsessive thinking
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Panic attacks and phobias
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Stress and burnout
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Low self-esteem and feelings of meaninglessness
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Depression and suicidal thoughts
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Redundancy and other life changes
Visit Approach to explore more of how I work.
What I can help you with
Challenges in Relationships with partners, friends or at work? Perhaps you feel trapped in a relationship where the sparkle has faded but the idea of leaving it and being alone is scary. Or you may feel that you give too much of yourself and get back little. The same feeling may come back in relationships with family, friends and at work. Your partner may stir painful feelings of worthlessness, jealousy and anger, which are difficult to manage and can complicate the relationship. In the same way, you may experience certain friends as challenging, and struggle to get the consideration you deserve at work. Therapy offers you a safe place to explore what you are finding challenging in your relationships, be it with your partner, your family, friends or in work situations, and helps you develop the tools to change it. Sometimes the challenge is your own wants and needs. In therapy we will explore how they impact your relationships with others, and how this determines how others perceive you. We will address what creates problems for you, and experiment with new ways of behaving to have better relationships. Sometimes the challenge is due to someone else’s emotional or psychological situation. In therapy you will learn how to respond better to other people’s behaviour. Even if you can’t change their behaviour, you can choose to respond differently and improve the outcome of your interactions. In my work as a therapist, coach and mentor, I had the opportunity to help many people of different age groups with their difficulties with relationships. My business experience of over 15 years working at international companies and charities gives me specific insight on how to navigate relationships in the work environment effectively.
Critical and negative thinking, issues with confidence and self-esteem that hold you back. When you work against yourself, It can become hard to get to where you want in life. Being overly self-critical and doubting your worth can make it challenging to feel at ease in social settings, at work, or with family and friends. You may compare yourself to others and feel ‘less’ than them. This may make you overly self-conscious, wanting to tick all the boxes. You may end up caring more about what other people think of you, than of how you feel. In this mindspace, social experiences like gatherings, parties, work events, or dates require a big effort and stop being enjoyable. You may feel overwhelmed, and avoid social situations losing personal and professional opportunities. You might often hear people say, “Just be yourself,” but it rarely feels sincere, leaving you to question what it really means. In therapy we will uncover what causes you to feel this way. We will look at how expectations from others, e.g. the media, family etc. may have put you under pressure and led you to believe you have to fit in. We will work to put this external influence in its place, and free up space for yourself. We will develop new ways of being with others that work for you, and feel more authentic.
Suffering from excessive worrying, anxiety and panic attacks that make you feel paralysed and unable to cope with life’s demands. A recent bestseller, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, sheds light on how widespread anxiety has become in our society. If you find yourself constantly worrying about the future, the direction the world is taking, or the possibility of things going wrong for you and your family, remember that these feelings are not personal failings, they reflect the challenges of the world we live in. Fear may be paralysing; Your reactions to it may be uncontrollable like in case of panic attacks, or other bodily reactions such as excessive sweating, thumping or irregular heartbeat etc. It may become difficult to have good sleep and to focus. It may feel like you are not in control of your life anymore, and this creates a cycle – being fearful of being fearful. Therapy helps get fear under control. We will leverage psychological and mindfulness techniques that have been studied and practiced for centuries to decrease anxiety – CBT techniques, mindfulness of breathing, bodywork etc. We will work to adapt them to fit your personal situation and your personality. We will also work on the underlying themes that trigger your fear, uncover where they come from in your personal history and use psychological techniques from Gestalt and Image-based therapy to make them gradually decrease and disappear from your life.
Life & career choices, loss of direction or feeling stuck and unable to make changes. Perhaps you find yourself in a place that you didn’t intend to be. The current may have pulled you in a direction that you did not choose, and you may have ended up in a career or a life situation that isn’t really ’you’, needing to put on a mask day after day. You may feel that there is no other realistic alternative for you, or that you have invested so much to get where you are, and it is now too late to change … Even if you knew what else you could do! Every time you think of making an attempt, or moving a first step, fear and doubt arise to keep you where you are, and it seems impossible to get unstuck. This may lead you to compare yourself to others and feel like you’re falling behind; you might also find yourself filling up your agenda and staying busy in an attempt to feel like you’re making progress and to cover up that inner void. Going to therapy is the first step of taking action. If getting unstuck on your own may be very difficult, having professional support can make things much easier. I trained in the use of psychological techniques that leverage the power of imagination like guided imageries and drawing techniques. These techniques help your mind to step out of the habitual patterns that are keeping you stuck. We will use these techniques to help you identify concrete steps of change in your life – starting from small things to then approach bigger decisions – and to find the courage to put them in practice. Throughout the years I helped clients get unstuck and change positions in their company, change jobs, or discover their calling and change their career or become self-employed. Others were stuck in a personal situation, like a marriage or a social circle, and found the courage to step out into something new. My experience working in business provides me with insight into the practical situations and challenges that you may face on your journey, which adds to my training and experience in working with the psychological blocks that keep you where you are.
First steps
The encounter with the right therapist can be transformative. It is important that you choose a therapist who feels right for you.
I offer a free introductory video call of about 20 minutes to get a sense of how we can work together and for you to ask any questions you may have about me and how therapy works. During this time we will explore whether a short-term or a long-term working agreement suits you best. We will also discuss the possibility to work in one of my consultation rooms in London, on-line, or outdoor in a 'walk and talk' setting. At the end of this session we should have a good idea as to whether we want to work together and arrange a first session, although you may want to think it over for a few days.
The first session will feel different from a normal therapy session as it will involve me gathering some information to find out a bit about you, what brings you to therapy, your background and lifestyle. For this reason, the first session can only be held in a consulting room or on-line.
Following this, we will meet weekly on the same day at an agreed time. We can also start working outdoor if this is your preference. Whilst I believe in the benefits of committing to regular sessions, I also understand that life does not always play ball, therefore I do allow for some flexibility.