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Alan Archibald, Psychodynamic Psychotherapist

BPC registered · Tavistock-trained · 24 years’ NHS mental health experience · Online across the UK

Alan Archibald, BPC registered psychodynamic psychotherapist

I began working in mental health in the NHS in 1996 and spent 24 years working across inpatient, community, crisis and A&E services, later becoming a Modern Matron. Over time I became increasingly interested in what could be understood beyond immediate symptoms and short-term intervention, which led me towards psychodynamic psychotherapy.

I trained at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, later qualifying in intercultural psychodynamic psychotherapy. I subsequently worked at the Tavistock as a specialist practitioner in psychoanalytic psychotherapy before moving fully into private practice.

That background continues to shape how I work. I bring together extensive experience of mental health, risk and complexity with a psychodynamic approach that allows time to understand what may lie beneath repeated emotional and relational difficulties.

I work exclusively online, making depth psychotherapy accessible to adults across the UK and beyond, without the barriers of geography or commute. If you're just beginning to think about therapy, you may find Can Psychotherapy Help Me? a useful starting point.

Book a free intorductory call

Specialist Therapy Areas

Areas I Work With

I work particularly with trauma, complex grief and bereavement, miscarriage and infant loss, anxiety and depression, relationship difficulties, identity and intercultural experience. Some people come with a clearly defined difficulty; others arrive with a sense that something has been repeating for many years without fully understanding why.

Together, we’ll look at how past experiences, relationships, and cultural influences shape your present, working toward emotional resilience and lasting mental health recovery.

How I work

Psychodynamic psychotherapy pays attention not only to what is happening now, but also to the experiences and patterns that may lie beneath it. We may think together about relationships, losses, recurring feelings or situations that seem difficult to understand or change.

I will not tell you what to think or rush you towards a solution. The work involves becoming more curious about what keeps repeating, what may be difficult to put into words, and how earlier experiences may still shape the way you respond to yourself and to other people.

The relationship between therapist and patient can also become part of this understanding. Feelings such as mistrust, shame, anger or fear of being misunderstood may gradually become possible to notice and think about. The aim is not simply insight for its own sake, but greater freedom in how you live and relate.