Andreia JenningsExistential - Integrative Psychotherapist

My process of self discovery

When studying for my first degree (BA Philosophy) I grew interested in the works of the existential philosophers and writers. I read widely in the existential literature and found the ideas stimulating and relevant to many experiences and situations in life. When I decided to become a psychotherapist I trained at a school specialising in the existential approach. I gained an MA in Existential Psychotherapy; my training was a process of self-discovery and I was able to explore the field further.

My approach to psychotherapy

As a psychotherapist I draw upon my existential training and on the phenomenological method, which allows my clients and I to gain an understanding of their way of ‘being-in-the-world’. I also draw upon ideas from other disciplines within psychotherapy, and complement my practice with insights from these approaches.

The existential approach is a holistic approach, which takes into consideration all aspects of a person’s life:

• Physical - our relationship with our body and the physical environment
• Social - our relationship with the social environment, our interactions, how we relate to others
• Psychological - the way we are within ourselves, how our personal world feels to us, how we are in connection with our past and our future
• Spiritual - how we relate to the unknown

My own experience of emotional eating

My interest in eating disorders arises from my own experience of ‘emotional’ eating. It took me many years of self-exploration to reach a place where I now feel content within my own body and I am able to enjoy food without feeling any shame or guilt.

I know how painful a bad relationship with food and one’s body image can be and I like helping others to get out of this circle of pain. An unsatisfactory / anxious relationship with food, and an unhappy experience of our own bodies, are complex issues, which can be untangled by looking at our whole experience of ‘being-in-the-world’ as a person.

Following my training, I have attended and continue to attend many other short courses, e.g. working with trauma, abuse, anxiety disorders, substance addiction, eating disorders, depression, psychotic states, postnatal depression, gay & lesbian issues, personality disorders.

• 2015 Therapeutic work with severely disturbed children - nscience
• 2015 C.G.Jung’s quest for Aurora Consurgens - The Guild of Pastoral Psychology
• 2015 Body-mindful presence: practical contemporary applications from integrative body psychotherapy - nscience
• 2015 Working with personality disorders - Greenwich MIND
• 2015 Marion Milner – Her work on creativity and its blocks - WPF therapy
• 2014 Attachment theory & close relationships - nscience
• 2014 Perversion: a psychoanalytic approach - nscience
• 2014 The psychodynamics of body dysmorphia - nscience
• 2014 Living and working with dissociation - PODS (Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors)
• 2013 Thinking about gender and sexual diversity - Greenwich MIND
• 2013 Reflections on betrayal - The Guild of Pastoral Psychology
• 2013 Psychosis - TCCR
• 2013 Unconscious psychological trauma - nscience
• 2013: Female creativity and the narcissistic wound - C.G. Jung club
• 2012 Chronic trauma and neglect - Greenwich MIND
• 2012 Exploring existential conscience in therapeutic practice - Authentica
• 2012 The intellectual plague of biologism - Inner Circle Seminars
• 2012 From stress to psychosis: how to prevent people having breakdowns - Human Givens College
• 2011 Bipolar disorder - Greenwich MIND
• 2011 Applied suicide intervention skills training - ASIST
• 2011 Dissociative states and child abuse - WPF therapy
• 2011 When mummy wants you to die: the role of infanticidal wishes in the genesis of psychosis - WPF therapy
• 2010 De-mystifying postnatal depression- Greenwich MIND
• 2010 Hearing voices - Greenwich MIND
• 2010 PTSD and mental health workshop - Greenwich MIND
• 2010 The heart of phenomenology - Society for Existential Analysis
• 2010 Effects of postnatal depression on child development - Greenwich Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services
• 2009 Domestic violence/forced marriage awareness training - MIND in Tower Hamlets
• 2009 Existential perspectives on supervision - Society for Existential Analysis
• 2009 Catharsis in Antiquity- Association of Jungian Analysts
• 2008 Working with depression - MIND in Tower Hamlets
• 2007 Family transitions: learning from research and intervention studies- TCCR
• 2006 Training in Bereavement counselling - Lewisham Bereavement Counselling
• 2006 Community drug education project: Drug awareness training course
• 2005-2010 MA Existential psychotherapy & counselling

• UKCP registered
• BACP member
• UPCA (accred)