Work, responsibility and identity
Psychotherapy for Professionals Under Pressure
Work can look successful from the outside while becoming increasingly difficult to carry inside. Responsibility, ambition and competence can coexist with anxiety, exhaustion, self-criticism, disconnection or a growing sense that the role no longer fits.
Psychotherapy can provide a place to understand what is happening beneath the pressure, rather than simply finding new ways to keep performing.
What may bring you to therapy
People arrive here for many different reasons, and none of the following is a diagnosis or an inevitable part of professional life. Some of it may feel familiar; some may not.
- Appearing capable and composed while feeling increasingly overwhelmed privately.
- Anxiety, overthinking or self-criticism connected with work and responsibility.
- Perfectionism, and the fear of disappointing other people.
- Burnout, emotional exhaustion or difficulty switching off.
- Feeling responsible for holding everything together.
- Career change, redundancy, retirement or uncertainty about the future of a role or industry.
- Rapid technological change, including uncertainty about how AI may affect work, identity or professional relevance.
- Success or achievement no longer providing the meaning or security it once did.
- Work pressure affecting relationships, family life or emotional availability.
- Questions about identity beyond a job title, status or professional role.
- Feeling stuck despite understanding the situation intellectually.
Psychotherapy rather than performance coaching
This is not performance coaching, career strategy or business consultancy. The purpose is not to make you more productive or efficient. Psychotherapy offers a different kind of conversation — one concerned with how you experience responsibility, achievement, uncertainty, relationships and yourself.
The work may involve understanding where particular expectations originated, noticing patterns that continue to repeat, making room for feelings that have been difficult to acknowledge, and considering how you want to respond to your circumstances now.
An understanding of work and organisational life
Before retraining as a psychotherapist, I spent more than a decade working across recruitment, charity, education, business development, workplace mental health and mental-health technology.
That background informs my understanding of organisations, ambition, responsibility, professional identity and change. It is context rather than a separate clinical specialism: the work remains integrative psychotherapy, shaped around the person rather than around a sector.
How we may work together
I am an integrative psychotherapist, which means I draw on different therapeutic traditions rather than applying one predetermined method. Depending on what you bring, sessions may include:
- Exploring feelings that are difficult to express elsewhere.
- Understanding links between current pressure and earlier experiences.
- Recognising recurring relational or professional patterns.
- Thinking about anxiety, responsibility, anger, shame, grief or uncertainty.
- Considering decisions, without my telling you what you should do.
- Paying attention to what changes over time.
You can read more about how I work if you would like a fuller sense of the approach before getting in touch.
Edinburgh and online sessions
- Face-to-face sessions at Edinburgh Therapy Centre, 19–21 Queen Charlotte Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6BA.
- Online psychotherapy for adults based in the UK.
- Sessions last 50 minutes.
- Fees from £70, agreed clearly before the first session — see fees and frequently asked questions.
- Harry Edwards, MSc, UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and Registered Member MBACP.
If you would like to begin, send an enquiry about a first session.
Common questions
Can therapy help when work seems to be the main problem?
Often, yes. Work is rarely only practical: it carries expectation, responsibility, identity and relationship. Psychotherapy makes room to understand how you are experiencing those things, rather than treating the difficulty as a scheduling or efficiency problem.
Is this the same as career or executive coaching?
No. This is psychotherapy, not coaching, career strategy or business consultancy. The aim is not to make you more productive but to understand what you are experiencing and how you want to respond to it.
Do I need to be experiencing burnout to begin therapy?
No. People come at many different points, including when something simply does not feel right and is hard to explain. You do not need a clear diagnosis or a crisis to begin.
Can I attend online if I travel regularly for work?
Online sessions are available to adults based in the UK, and can make weekly work more sustainable when travel is frequent. Please let me know in advance if you expect to attend while abroad, so we can consider together whether continuing during that period is appropriate.
Where are face-to-face sessions held in Edinburgh?
In-person sessions take place at Edinburgh Therapy Centre, 19–21 Queen Charlotte Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6BA.
How much does a session cost?
Fees from £70 for a 50-minute session. The fee is agreed clearly before your first session.
What happens in an initial session?
The first paid 50-minute session is an opportunity to talk about what has brought you to therapy, ask questions and experience how it feels to work together. There is no expectation of continuing.
You do not need to have everything worked out before getting in touch.
A brief enquiry is enough to begin. You can share what has brought you here, ask a question and find out whether an initial session may be appropriate.
50-minute sessions · Edinburgh and online · Fees from £70