Damien Kelly

It's a scary thing, coming to see a psychotherapist. Most people arrive unsure of what they're meant to feel, say, or do - wanting things to change, while worrying about what opening up might mean for how they see themselves.

You don't need to arrive knowing what you need. Part of the early work is finding out together what you're looking for and what successful therapy would actually look like for you.

Hello, I'm Damien, an Attachment-Based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. I work with people experiencing overwhelming emotions, relationship and intimacy difficulties, long-standing trauma, and patterns that feel deeply ingrained or hard to shift. Many of the people I see arrive sceptical about therapy, or unsure what to expect from it.

If therapy hasn't worked before

Some people come to me having already tried therapy - an approach that offered useful techniques but faded once sessions ended, or counselling that felt supportive yet never quite got to the root of things. If that's you, it doesn't mean therapy can't work. It may mean the work never reached the level where your difficulties actually live.

This is that deeper work: slower, relational, and focused on understanding the patterns beneath the symptoms rather than managing them. It asks more of you than being given strategies — and it's built for the things strategies don't shift.

Before training as a psychotherapist, I spent over a decade working in London, both as an Assistant Clinical Psychologist in secure services and as a team manager at Inspired, a specialist personality disorder service. Through this work, I developed a deep understanding of complex emotional difficulties, but became increasingly drawn to approaches that address the deeper psychological causes of distress rather than focusing solely on coping strategies or symptom management.

My work is relational and depth-focused, with an emphasis on building trust over time. I don’t rely heavily on diagnostic labels; instead, I focus on how past experiences, relationships, and attachment patterns continue to shape the present. Many clients work with me long-term, particularly when difficulties have persisted for many years.

Therapy with me is done with you, not to you — it isn’t about being told what to do but about understanding yourself more fully and creating meaningful, lasting change.

I offer sessions in Cavendish Square / Harley Street and Highbury Fields.