John Loewenthal

Dr. John Loewenthal is an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor with a Diploma in Relational Counselling, and a BA (Oxon), MA, and PhD. John helps individuals, couples, and families to address difficulties they are facing in their social and emotional life. His therapy training is theoretically integrative, involving psychodynamic, humanistic, and cognitive-behavioural approaches. Psychodynamic therapy explores how personalities and behaviour are influenced by experiences and attachments earlier in life and brings unconscious drives and defences into awareness. Humanistic therapy helps people into their pursuits of self-knowledge and growth, guiding explorations of identities, responsibilities, mortality, and meaning. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) identifies and challenges unhelpful thought patterns and beliefs that may adversely affect how we experience and perceive the world. John draws variously upon such ideas though is mostly interested in you and what you have to say. He is a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and sees clients in private practice at The Awareness Centre (Clapham) on Monday mornings.

John works at the Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. As an anthropologist, John is passionate about his therapeutic practice. He has the skills and humanity to help you to untangle difficult situations, to cope with devastating or bewildering circumstances, to work through sources of pain or puzzlement, and to communicate more clearly with yourself and others. In sessions, John listens deeply and strives to create a trusting, non-judgmental space where you can feel heard and accepted while also engaging in change. By having honest, sometimes difficult, often revelatory conversations, therapy can empower people to understand who they are, how they may be held back, and what else they might become. John has experience helping people to understand and overcome a range of issues, particularly concerning relationships, family, identity, career, and self-esteem. John is attentive to each person’s unique experience of the world and how biographies and personalities form and interact. He works both short term (6-12 sessions) and on an open-ended basis.

John brings research expertise and ongoing involvement in academia into his therapeutic practice. His PhD research, ‘Aspirations of university graduates: an ethnography in New York and Los Angeles’ explored the aspirations of a diverse group of young adults and the complicated involvements of family and culture in life choices. He also teaches a course on what makes life meaningful at the University of Oxford. At SOAS, John leads the research project, ‘Anthropology, talking therapy, and education: intersections between theory and practice’ exploring therapy as an educational process of helping humans in their learning to live.