Adam Ficek is a UKCP Accredited Clinical Psychotherapist, MBACP Counsellor and is qualified in EMDR and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. He has been involved in the music industry for 25 years as a performing artist and DJ and toured extensively at top level (EMI/Parlophone/Rough Trade) as a solo artist, band member and as a DJ. Following his own therapeutic experience within the music industry and witnessing the struggles (and consequences) of many of his peers, he decided to train as a psychotherapist.
Adam is experienced in both the NHS and private mental health settings. Areas of expertise include Anxiety, Addiction, Depression, Fame and celebrity, Trauma, Relationships, Burnout, Self esteem, Coaching (psychological and performance), substance abuse, touring and performance strategies.
From my unique perspective as both a professional musician and a psychotherapist I am able to draw upon first hand experience in both therapeutic, and performance practice, towards the implementation and management of mental health strategies in the music industry.
Sept 2012 – Sep 2014 Training for Professional Enhancement
(ABC Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling Level 4)
Sept 2011 – Sept 2012 Tower Hamlets College
(ABC Certificate in Counselling Skills Level 3)
Sept 1994 – Sept 1995 Greenwich University (Post Graduate Certificate Education)
Mar 1996 – Oct 1996 Hoxton Bibliotech (BTEC in Electronic Publishing)
Sept 1989 – Sept 1990 Middlesex University (MA in Video Production)
Sept 1983 – Jun 1987 Glasgow University (MA in English and Drama)
Alistair Newton is an experienced BACP Accredited counsellor and supervisor. He has worked as a counsellor in education, in charities, in the NHS as well as in private practice since 2014. The performing arts have seen Alistair work as a singer, actor, comic, presenter, musician, script writer and producer. “I am aware of the many issues that affect musicians and performers which may include anxiety and depression, a difficult work/life balance, uncertainty and financial pressures. I am able to relate to creative people and those who have a lifestyle or working pattern which is outside the mainstream as well as those dealing with creative blocks“.
Alistair can help with issues relating to abuse, addiction, affairs and betrayals, alcoholism, anger management, anxiety, autism, bereavement, bullying, career counselling, depression, drug addiction, emotional abuse, family issues, feeling sad, health anxiety, internet addiction, LGBTQ+ counselling, loneliness, low self-confidence, low self-esteem, panic attacks, redundancy, relationship problems, self-harm, separation and divorce, sex addiction, sex problems, social anxiety, stress.
Alistair is also a teacher, university lecturer and trainer. He has recently offered training in bereavement counselling, working with learning difficulties, humanistic counselling as well as counselling skills.
Amy Willshire is a Dramatherapist experienced working with performance professionals including actors, movement practitioners, playwrights and puppeteers. She has personal experience as a director and writer of plays and lighting and sound technician, and is passionate about using the arts to aid healing.
Amy has expertise helping clients who have experienced trauma, anxiety, depression, and she can help performers address Roling and Deroling (including the distinction of me and not me). She has worked with adults with addictions and substance dependency, with older adults with dementia and cognitive loss and with clients who have experienced trauma, abuse, trafficking, bereavement, family separation, homelessness, PTSD, and eating disorders.
She works with adults and children, individuals, groups and families, using a range of therapeutic approaches, adapted to meet each client’s needs, with a specific interest in how a deeper understanding of “who am I” can help align thoughts, feelings, actions and sense of purpose. She uses techniques informed by somatic experiencing (how trauma is held in the body) and internal family systems (internal conflicts including self sabotage behaviours).
She is interested in attachment and working with families to strengthen bonds and relationships. This includes families who have suffered a bereavement, families with depression or anxiety, reunited families (e.g. following incarceration or migration), family breakdown, family assessment centres, contact centres, children in care, adopted families
She has experience working affirmingly with LGBT+ clients and with clients from a range of religious and cultural backgrounds.
Andrew Kitching is an experienced psychotherapist working from his consulting rooms in Belgravia, London, seeing adult clients from varying backgrounds. He has worked as a musician and promoter, and as a senior executive in newspaper and media organisations, and is familiar working with highly creative individuals and business people alike. This specialist knowledge of the creative and business worlds inform his psychotherapy work as well as his experience helping clients with mid-life/career transition, divorce/separation, drink/drug dependency, boarding school syndrome and the attendant depression, stress and anxiety this can evoke.
The focus of his work is to explore the concerns and issues you may have in a confidential and supportive setting, to help you get a better understanding of what makes you tick, who you want to be and how to express that.
Andrew says: “I have always been interested in the creative process and connection through music. I spent my early life working with musicians, first as a concert promoter and then later as a manager. My career ultimately took a different path into news media but in re-training as a psychotherapist in later life, I find myself working with musicians again, now therapeutically.”
Beverley Hills has worked as a therapist with many clients across the arts. A creative with 35 years’ experience working freelance, Beverley is also a careers advisor for Equity and BECTU.
“My background is in the creative arena of film, stage and TV, this means I have a wealth of experience to do with anxiety, panic attacks, rejection, fear as well as bereavement, family, relationships, sexual issues, addiction and more. I also counsel couples and troubled teens. My diverse career means I’ve a wider than average skillset for you to call upon. Trained in many different theories, I believe one type doesn’t fit all because isn’t every person different? As a counsellor of colour I find Black, Asian and minority ethnic clients relate closely to me. I also work with transitioning and LGBTQ+ clients. A member of the BACP, I work within their ethical framework; confidentiality is assured at all times”.
