Get to know us - Dr Josephine Swede

Dr Josephine Swede is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) and the British Psychological Society (BPS). She completed her doctoral training at the University of Surrey and has experience of working across a range of mental health settings over the past eight years. Josephine has worked in several different services within the NHS, including both primary care and secondary care services, as well as in the private and voluntary sectors, including in-patient services and a domestic violence charity.

As an integrative psychologist, Josephine is trained in a number of therapeutic approaches, meaning that her approach is adapted to the individual needs of the client, always prioritising the building of a strong therapeutic relationship and sense of safety for the clients she works with. The therapeutic approaches she offers include; Cognitive-Behavioural therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Humanistic and Person-Centred therapies, as well as drawing from Schema therapy, Compassion-focused, and Mindfulness based approaches regularly in her work with clients.

Josephine has worked with children, adolescents, and adults from diverse backgrounds and has worked with presentations including PTSD and other trauma-related issues, Anxiety disorders, Depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Bipolar Affective Disorder, Panic Disorder, Low Self-esteem, Personality Disorders, and relational difficulties. Josephine has also worked regularly as an expert witness for asylum and immigration cases and has a particular interest in trauma and anxiety.

Drawing primarily from Cognitive-behavioural therapies, Josephine offers a collaborative approach focused on providing practical skills and tools to help facilitate the change that clients wish to see in their lives. Josephine believes that an important first step in this process is often acknowledging the inevitability of human distress, and understanding the ways in which resistance to unpleasant or uncomfortable emotions can keep people feeling stuck. She offers both short-term, solution-focused therapy and longer-term therapy which may be more exploratory in nature.

Here’s a list of issues I can help with:

• Depression and mood issues
• Anxiety
• Panic Disorder
• Social Anxiety
• OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
• Health Anxiety
• Specific Phobias
• GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder)
• Anger
• Personality Disorders
• PTSD/Trauma
• Relationship Difficulties
• Children/Adolescent
• Work Stress
• Low Confidence/Esteem
• Bipolar
• Sleep Therapy

Insurances I work with: AXA, Aviva, Vitality, CIGNA, Simply Health, WPA and others.