Get to know us - Dr Nicholas Sarantakis

‘If I can accept what I cannot change, find the courage to change the things that I need to, and cultivate my wisdom to recognise the difference, then I will find serenity’ 

This paraphrasing of ‘Serenity Prayer’ poem by Dr. Neibuhr best summarises Nicholas’s therapeutic philosophy: Life offers us plenty of wonderful opportunities to grow and thrive, to nourish warm relationships and connections with others, self-actualise, and embrace meaning throughout our lifespan. However, we all sometimes feel let down by life, others, or our own selves, or we cannot have what our hearts are yearning for, or when we lose what we love the most, despite our best efforts, or when unexpected life predicaments come along our pathway. It is never easy to accept and overcome such painful events and realities and it always takes time. However, there is way through therapy to re-discover eudemonia and happiness in life by taking a different view on ourselves and life, re-training our brain to think and react differently to challenges and to work on fulfilling our full potential.

Nicholas’s background

Nicholas is an HCPC registered Counselling Psychologist based in the U.K., with a diverse clinical and academic experience both from the United Kingdom and abroad. He has been a Director of Studies, Senior Lecturer and Lecturer and researcher at five different U.K. Universities, he is one of the two authors of the book ‘Relational Ethics in Psychotherapy & Counselling Private Practice: Solidarity, Compassion, Justice’ and he has published extensively in peer-reviewed, prestigious international journals and websites. He has full training to deliver CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and Humanistic Therapy for a variety of psychological presentations and difficulties, but he also draws on Existential and Schema Therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy for psychological trauma, as well as person-centred professional and life coaching (which can help you achieve your professional goals, enhance your motivation, align with your values and overall embrace a work and life satisfaction).

He also has a psychodynamic 5-year long professional training in group, family and couple therapy (the Hellenic Institute for Group Analysis and Family Therapy, member of the European Federation of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy) and he has psychotherapeutic experience in a broad variety of settings, including private psychology clinics in London and abroad, the multi-national insurance company BUPA, an inpatient psychiatric clinic, private practice, charities, schools, universities and counselling centres with clients of all ages and from very diverse social, cultural and personal backgrounds.

Nicholas’s theoretical ethos

Nicholas is an integrative practitioner with more than 15 years of experience working with individuals, couples, families and groups. His areas of expertise are especially working through relational and family difficulties, work-related stress, OCD, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem life and personal identity crises and psychological trauma. He practises from an integrative perspective based primarily on humanistic counselling, CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and psychodynamic therapy and with a holistic philosophy, meaning that he will invite you to explore bravely all aspects of your life and identity as a whole, as he strongly believes that it is much more beneficial to examine specific difficulties within the wider context.

How Nicholas works with couples and families

Nicholas has been practising couple and family therapy for several years. If you are interested in these modalities of therapy, please read the following brief introduction.

These modalities of therapy are underpinned by the same fundamental principles as one-to-one therapy, but they also differ as they focus more on exploring, understanding and resolving relational difficulties between the couple or within the family in a direct manner during the sessions. It would be useful for all clients engaging in couple and family therapy to remember that normally Nicholas’s role is not to decide who is right and who is wrong and reach a ‘verdict’, as a judge would do (even though on rare occasions of unsafe behaviours, these may have to be clearly addressed). Neither the main focus is on establishing ‘what really happened’ during the challenging events, which hurt the feelings of the couple or family – we often have different recollections and understandings of past incidents anyway. Nicholas will also not provide you with direct ‘practical guidelines’ about what should be done and by whom, but he may facilitate such a constructive discussion between you.

On the contrary, his role is to help you discover – and start practising – more constructive and sensitive ways of communicating with each other, he will facilitate you to work out yourselves and together the solutions to the various difficulties, and he will help you understand better each other and what ways of being together may be more helpful in the long-term.

If you feel that couple therapy will be beneficial to you, he would recommend that each of you initially book an individual session with him, so that you can both establish trust with him and have the chance to explain your own viewpoint and your personal needs. After this initial stage, he would suggest that you commit to at least three joint sessions, where you can understand better the difficulties you have been facing as a couple or family and find ways forward to be happier with one another in the future.

Nicholas has experience working and offering help with a wide range of psychological difficulties including the following:

• Depression and mood issues
• Anxiety
• Panic Disorder
• Social Anxiety
• OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
• Health Anxiety
• Specific Phobias
• Fear of Public Speaking
• Perfectionism
• GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder)
• Anger
• Personality Disorders
• Eating Difficulties
• Sexuality and Sexual Issues
• Addictions (e.g., substances)
• Behavioural Addictions (e.g., gambling, sex, betting)
• PTSD/Trauma
• Relationship Difficulties
• Couples Therapy
• Family Therapy
• Children
• Adolescents
• Work Stress
• Stress (general)
• Seasonal Affective Disorder
• Low Confidence/Esteem
• Psychosis
• Bereavement
• Assertiveness Issues
• Bipolar
• Sleep Therapy/Insomnia
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder
• LGBTQ+ issues
• Identity Issues
• Professional Coaching
• Existential Issues

Insurances Nicholas works with: AXA, Aviva, Cigna, Simply Health, WPA and others.