Men's mental health
Stress, anger, low mood, pressure you can't put down, or simply not feeling like yourself. I work with men who've never had anywhere safe to say any of it out loud.
Online · One-to-one · Anywhere in the UK
Online Counselling — What I Help With, and How It Works
I'm Brian Sheppard, a clinical psychotherapist and mental health specialist, UKCP registered, with over 25 years in mental health. My approach is person-centred. I work online, one-to-one, with adults who've reached the point where there's too much going on to think clearly. This page is the map: what I help with, what a session is actually like, and where to go next.
- UKCP registered
- 50-minute sessions on Zoom
- Individual sessions only
- Anywhere in the UK
Does this sound familiar?
Who this is for
Most people who contact me can't put a name to it at first. It's more a feeling that you've lost your grip on things. You might recognise some of this:
- You can't think clearly, and every decision feels bigger than it should
- Work, home, money or family have piled up until there's no room left for you
- A relationship is breaking down, or has ended, and you don't know who you are without it
- You're trying to stay a good parent through a separation you didn't choose
- Anger, flatness or anxiety keeps arriving and you can't say where from
- You've never had anyone to say the honest version to
- You're questioning your sexuality, your identity or where you belong
- You've held it together for everyone else for so long that you've stopped noticing the cost
You don't need a diagnosis, a crisis or a neat explanation to get in touch. If it's been on your mind for a while, that's reason enough.
Let's talk it throughFour specialist pathways
What I work with
I don't try to be all things to everyone. These are the four areas I know from the inside, after more than 25 years in mental health, and each one has its own pages written for the situation you're in.
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Relationships and divorce
What keeps going wrong with the people closest to you, and how to find your feet when it ends. I see one person at a time, so the hour is yours, whichever stage you're at.
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Co-parenting and fatherhood
Staying steady for your children when their other parent is the hardest part of the week. I have a particular interest in fathers, who often get less of the children and even less of the sympathy.
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Identity and cultural transition
Living between places, cultures, generations or versions of yourself, and belonging fully to none of them. I'm a Black man who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and built my adult life in London, so you won't have to explain it to me first.
I also offer workplace therapy and employee wellbeing for stress, conflict and confidence at work. And I work with self-esteem, imposter syndrome, and identity and loneliness. They don't have their own pages yet, but they come up in almost every one of the pathways above, and you're welcome to bring them.
What to expect
How online counselling works
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Step 1: A free introductory call
You tell me a bit about what's going on and I tell you how I work. We both get a feel for whether it's a fit. No pressure to continue.
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Step 2: A regular 50-minute session
Usually weekly, over Zoom, at a time that fits around your life. I send the link; you click it. No account, nothing to download.
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Step 3: We go at your pace
Some people come for a few weeks to get through something specific. Some stay longer, because the thing they came with turned out to be the top of something older. You decide, and we review it together as we go.
What you need: somewhere private where you won't be overheard, a phone, tablet or laptop with a camera, and a connection good enough for a video call. The car, the spare room, the office after hours: anywhere honest works.
Questions I'm often asked
What's the difference between counselling and psychotherapy?
Less than the internet suggests. Both are talking therapy with a trained person in a confidential space. Counselling often means shorter work focused on a particular problem; psychotherapy tends to go longer and deeper into the patterns underneath it. I'm trained and registered as a psychotherapist, and I work in both ways depending on what you need. You don't have to choose the word before you get in touch. Bring the problem; we'll work out the shape together.
Is online counselling as good as sitting in a room?
For most people, yes. The relationship is what does the work, and that builds just as well on a screen as across a coffee table. Some of my clients find it easier online: no waiting room, no travelling across London on the worst day of the week, and the option to talk from wherever they feel safest. Where it isn't right, usually because someone is in crisis or needs more support than weekly sessions can give, I'll say so in the introductory call and help you find something better suited.
Is what I tell you confidential?
Yes. What you say stays between us, with the limits every registered psychotherapist in the UK works to: if I believed you or someone else was at serious risk of harm, or if the law required it, I would need to act, and wherever possible I'd talk to you first. I discuss my work in regular clinical supervision, as UKCP requires, without identifying you.
How many sessions will I need?
I can't tell you that before we've met, and I'd be wary of anyone who could. What I can tell you is that you're never locked in: there are no blocks to buy and no minimum. Some people know after six weeks that they've got what they came for. Others find that the space becomes something they want to keep for a while. We'll check in regularly on how it's going and you'll always be the one who decides.
Fees and first step
What it costs and how to start
Sessions are 50 minutes over Zoom and cost £80. I keep a small number of reduced-fee places for people on a low income; ask me on the introductory call. How everything works, including cancellations, is on my fees and concessions page.
Before anything else, we have a free introductory call. You tell me a bit about what's going on, I tell you how I work, and we both get a feel for whether it's a fit. No pressure, no obligation. If it isn't right, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
£80 per session
- 50 minutes, one-to-one on Zoom
- Free introductory call first
- Some reduced-fee places