Counselling

Counselling in Dubai

Counselling in Dubai (for anxiety, depression, relationship difficulty, grief, stress) is offered here at Harley Street clinical standard, delivered online via secure video or in person in London. Dubai is a city of significant professional pressure, absent social support structures, and the particular stresses of expatriate professional life.

Who comes to counselling in Dubai

The people who come to this practice from Dubai are often functioning well on the surface (holding senior roles, meeting every external marker of success) while privately managing anxiety, low mood, a relationship under strain, or a sense of dislocation that moving abroad has sharpened rather than resolved. Expatriate life in the Gulf concentrates certain pressures: long working hours, a transient social world in which friendships form and dissolve quickly, distance from the family and old friendships that would ordinarily absorb difficulty, and the unspoken expectation that a well-paid posting should simply be enjoyed. Distress in that context can feel like ingratitude, which is one reason it so often goes unspoken until it becomes hard to manage.

What counselling addresses

• Anxiety and stress
• Depression
• Relationship difficulty, couples and individual
• Grief and bereavement
• Identity and life direction
• Professional pressures specific to the Dubai environment

How the work begins

The first step is an initial consultation, a conversation, without obligation, in which you can describe what has brought you here and we can establish together whether counselling is the right approach and at what depth. Some difficulties resolve within a focused piece of work over a defined number of sessions; others turn out to have longer roots that are better met by psychotherapy. That judgement is made openly, with you, rather than assumed in advance.

Counselling vs psychotherapy

Counselling addresses specific presenting problems over a defined number of sessions. Psychotherapy is deeper and longer, addressing the underlying patterns generating the presenting problem. Both are available, and the appropriate format is discussed at the initial consultation.

Confidentiality

Sessions are conducted via encrypted video, with no connection to local Dubai networks. The practice is based in London, and client information is never shared with any employer, family member or third party without explicit consent. For clients in senior or public-facing roles, this separation is not a preference but a clinical necessity.

About Dr Philippe Jacquet

Dr Jacquet is an integrative psychotherapist and Jungian analyst with over 25 years of clinical experience in London and internationally. An EMDR practitioner with over 20 years’ experience. Addiction specialist trained at Hazelden Foundation and Hope-One. Only European with doctoral research on male eating disorders. Executive coaching trained at ESSEC (FT Top 10 European). Accredited: UKCP, BAAT, HCPC. Supervisor of the clinical teams at PROMIS Recovery Centre and Cardinal Clinic (CQC Outstanding).