Counselling in Croydon

Therapy for when you're tired of holding it together

If you're here, you're probably exhausted. Not just tired - properly exhausted from performing being fine when you're not. From managing everyone else's emotions while yours stay buried. From looking successful while feeling empty.

I practise psychodynamic therapy in Croydon. Not Harley Street, not the City - Croydon. Because therapy doesn't need a prestigious postcode to work. It needs honesty, and there's something honest about choosing to practise here, where people actually live.

Why Croydon matters

Before the pandemic, I practised in Clerkenwell and Bank. People would squeeze me into lunch breaks, rushing from glass offices to talk about how trapped they felt.

The pandemic changed that. Like everyone, I had to question what actually mattered. I chose to create a practice at home in Croydon, and discovered something: therapy works better when nobody's performing wellness in a pristine waiting room.

Croydon knows about being overlooked. About promises that don't materialise. About being technically part of London but treated like you're not quite. Maybe that's why the therapy here feels more real - we're already past the pretence.

What brings people to therapy

You've probably been managing for years. Being helpful, understanding, accommodating. So good at reading what others need that you've forgotten you exist.

The commute alone would break most people - East Croydon to Victoria, squashed against strangers while your life happens without you. Then performing competence all day before the reverse journey home.

Something's shifted though. The old ways of coping have become the problem. You can't pretend your way through another day.

How this works

This is psychodynamic therapy. We're interested in patterns - why you keep ending up with the same kinds of people, the same flavour of empty. Why problems you thought you'd solved keep returning in different disguises.

We meet weekly, same time, same place. No worksheets or breathing exercises. We talk about what's really happening, not the version you've rehearsed.

It takes courage to stop being agreeable. To risk disappointing people by being real. To feel things you've spent years avoiding.

Practical bits

Location: Central Croydon, walking distance from both stations
Times: Daytime and evening appointments
Cost: £65 per session
Online: Also available if you prefer

Parking at Centrale or Whitgift. Near East Croydon, West Croydon, Church Street tram stop.

Getting started

Email me. Don't overthink it. You don't need the right words or a prepared speech about your problems.

Just say you'd like to start therapy. We'll arrange a first session and see if it feels right.

If you're ready to stop managing your life and start living it, let's talk.

Luke Row, BACP registered psychodynamic therapist, Croydon