Single Session Therapy
Sometimes a single conversation is just enough. You don’t have to follow any particular programme or attend weekly sessions. All it takes is a single focused conversation with someone who will listen carefully, who will ask the right questions and help you see what you were unable to notice on your own.
Single session therapy is a standalone encounter, designed to be complete in itself. You bring a specific situation, question, or difficulty. We work with it together: directly, honestly and focused, so you could leave with a clearer sense of where you stand and what you want to do next. This form of work is designed to stand on its own, yet my door is always open for you to return for more sessions.
It is still a therapy. We simply start straight away and hold nothing back for later.
Why one session can be enough
xistential therapy have long held that a real meeting between two people can change something. When both give it their full attention, without assuming what comes next, a shift can happen. It doesn’t always, and you can’t predict when it will. But it doesn’t need months of groundwork.
Most therapy assumes that more sessions are better. The evidence is less tidy. In the late 1980s the psychologist Moshe Talmon went through the records of a large clinic in California and found that the most common number of sessions people attended was one. When he followed some of them up, many said that single visit had helped. Later studies found much the same. So the real question is how seriously that one session is taken.
I approach every single session the way I approach every session: as if it might be the only one. With full attention, no deferral, no warming up for something that may never come. The existential therapist Hans Cohn wrote about therapy as a meeting in which both people are present and both are affected. That principle holds whether we meet once or fifty times.
What happens in a single session
Before we meet, I will ask you to reflect on two questions: What is the situation or question you want to bring? and What would make this session worthwhile for you? You do not need polished answers. The reflection itself is where the work begins.
The session has a shape, though it isn’t a script:
We meet and find the focus. Two people in a room or on a screen, if online, arriving at what matters most right now. We won’t go through your whole life story or run an assessment. We look for the question you are actually carrying. With couples, each of you says what you most need the other to hear.
We work with what you have brought. This takes up most of the session. I listen closely, ask questions and point out what is hard to see from the inside: the assumptions you’ve been living with, and the distance between how you live and how you’d like to. If it helps, I may suggest a psychodrama or body-based exercise. I also notice what your body is doing as we talk. I won’t tell you what to do, but I won’t sit back and stay quiet either. If something needs saying, I’ll say it, kindly and plainly.
We take stock and look forward. What has shifted? What do you see now that you did not see before? What are you taking with you? This is not a neat set of action steps. It is an honest assessment of where you stand, which may include recognising that more is needed. If so, we can discuss what further work might look like. If not, we stop there.
A day or two later I’ll send you a short note with a few thoughts from our conversation (not clinical notes).
Something to take with you.
Who comes for a single session
Individuals come for all sorts of reasons. You might have a decision to make and want to talk it through with someone who isn’t part of your life. You might want to understand why something keeps happening to you, or get clearer about a relationship. Perhaps there’s a falling-out or a loss you can’t discuss with the people around you. Or you’re curious about therapy but not ready for weekly sessions. One session is a way to find out.
Couples come when something needs saying and hasn’t been said, or when a decision hangs between them. Some just want a different conversation from the one they keep having at home. Couples sessions run for two hours, so there’s room for both of you. I look at what goes on between you: the arguments that keep coming back, and the things each of you does without quite noticing. One honest conversation with someone outside the relationship can change how you understand each other.
Leaders and people in demanding jobs often carry a weight they can’t put down, with few places where they can speak freely. I spent more than twenty years in business before I became a therapist, so I know that world from the inside. A session gives you room to think through a hard decision, a conflict at work, a change of role, or the nagging sense that the life you’ve built doesn’t fit any more. I won’t coach you or hand you a plan. I’ll help you see clearly what you’re dealing with, in confidence.
You do not need to fit neatly into any of these descriptions. If you think a single focused conversation might help, it probably can.
Practical information
- Individual single sessions last 75 minutes.
- Couples single sessions last 2 hours.
- Sessions are available online across the UK and internationally, and in person in Riga.
- Sessions are available in English, Latvian, and Russian.
- Fees are discussed during the introductory call.
I work in accordance with the UKCP Code of Ethics and under the supervision of experienced colleagues.
Get in touch
A free first conversation
Not sure whether a single session is right for you or whether ongoing therapy would be a better fit? The introductory call is the place to think about it together.
I offer a free 15–20 minute call, by phone or video. A chance for you to say briefly what’s brought you, hear how I work, and see whether working together feels right — a conversation, not a commitment.
You’re welcome to get in touch.
Let's Connect
Reach Out
To book a session or ask a question, feel free to call, send a WhatsApp or text message to +44(0)7903848913, or complete the contact form. I’ll respond as promptly as possible.
I’m happy to take your call unless I’m in a session. If I’m unavailable, please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can to answer any questions.
