When good care means more than one professional
There is a quiet assumption in mental health that the right therapist, working alone, is always enough. For a great deal of ordinary difficulty, one skilled clinician is exactly what is needed. But some conditions ask for more than one kind of expertise, and recognising when is a mark of clinical maturity rather than a limitation. Sometimes adequate support means a small team, working around you, so that nothing important is missed.
Addiction is one of the clearest examples.
Why recovery from addiction needs a team
Addiction is rarely only a matter of willpower or of talking things through. It affects the body, and it usually sits on top of something else — depression, anxiety, trauma, or unbearable feeling. Safe recovery often draws on more than one profession at once:
- A GP for physical health and safety — including, where there is physical dependence, medically supervised withdrawal. Coming off alcohol and some other substances can be dangerous without medical oversight.
- A psychiatrist where there is a co-occurring condition to diagnose, or where medication has a part to play in stabilising mood or managing cravings.
- A psychotherapist or addiction counsellor for the recovery itself — the work on what the substance was doing for you, and on building a life that does not need it. This is my part of the work.
Held together, these make recovery both safer and more likely to last.
Bermondsey: joined-up care in south-east London
Bermondsey sits within reach of the Guy’s and London Bridge medical cluster and a strong network of local GPs, which makes joined-up care practical. The point is not to hand you around, but the opposite: the right professionals, in contact with one another, organised around one person.
How I coordinate your care
Through established relationships with GPs and consultant psychiatrists, I can arrange a prompt referral when recovery needs medical input as well as therapy — including the medical step first, where withdrawal needs supervising — and, with your consent, keep the professionals involved in touch with one another. You are not left carrying messages between clinicians; you stay at the centre of your own recovery.
If you already have a GP, psychiatrist or addiction service, I am glad to work alongside them. If not, I can help you find the right one.
You can read more on the confidential addiction counselling page, and about how the professions differ in psychiatrist, psychologist or psychotherapist: which do you need? If you would like to think through what adequate support might look like for you, arrange a consultation.
Common questions
Why would addiction need more than a therapist?
Because addiction affects the body as well as the mind. Withdrawal can be medically risky, and there is often depression, anxiety or trauma underneath. A GP manages physical safety, a psychiatrist addresses medication and any co-occurring diagnosis, and therapy does the recovery work — together, safely.
Is medically supervised detox part of this?
Where physical dependence means withdrawal could be dangerous — alcohol and some other substances especially — detox should be medically supervised by a GP or psychiatrist first. Therapy then supports the longer recovery. I can help arrange the right medical step.
Do you work with my GP or an addiction service?
With your consent, yes. Keeping the professionals involved in contact is part of safe, joined-up recovery, whether that is your GP, a psychiatrist, or an addiction service.
Is this available online?
Yes. Sessions are available in person in Bermondsey or online, and coordination with medical colleagues works the same way in both.