Psychotherapy for Addiction and Recovery in Edinburgh and Online

What we may work with

• The role an addictive substance or behaviour may have played in coping with distress.
• Shame and the difficulty of speaking honestly about what has happened.
• Emotional regulation — sitting with feelings that previously felt unbearable.
• Relationships affected by addiction, including trust, closeness and repair.
• Loss and grief — for people, roles, opportunities or an imagined life.
• Identity: who you are becoming, separate from the addiction.
• Recovery after residential or structured treatment, and the fear of relapse.
• Adjusting to life in recovery when familiar routines and coping strategies no longer apply.
• Moving beyond a purely abstinence-focused understanding of the work.

How psychotherapy may help

Psychotherapy is not a replacement for medical treatment, detoxification, psychiatric assessment, residential care or crisis intervention. It is a different kind of work: a sustained, confidential relationship in which you can begin to make sense of your experience, understand what has been driving it, and consider how you want to live now.

This may include understanding what feelings, situations or relationships tend to precede difficulty, developing more room to notice and name what is happening, and thinking about how you want to respond rather than react.

Clinical experience

Alongside private practice, I provide psychotherapy at Castle Craig, a specialist addiction and mental-health hospital. This experience informs my work with people affected by addiction and recovery, while remaining separate from my independent practice.

Psychotherapy does not replace detoxification, medical treatment, psychiatric care or crisis support. If you need immediate help, please contact your GP, NHS 111, or in an emergency call 999.