I have a wide experience as a psychotherapist, including four years at a city based Counselling Centre, working with adults offering one to one individual therapy for both short and long periods.  I have further worked as a volunteer Victim Support Worker with Victim Support for number of years, supporting individuals and offering emotional support to people that had been the victims of crime.

John McDonaldI initially trained for two years at the University of Leicester gaining a Certificate of Higher Education in Contemporary Psychodynamic Counselling. In recognising how the quality of the therapeutic relationship is so vital for promoting personal change, and to deepen my knowledge and understanding of counselling and psychotherapy, I followed this training with a 4-year Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy at the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute (SPTI) in Nottingham. I have a personal interest in the transformative nature of love within therapeutic relationship, and how this emotion can be harnessed in a relational developmental psychotherapy.

I am an accredited member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and I adhere to their Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct.  I am further a member of the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute and I work within their Code of Ethics. The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute is a member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).

I receive regular supervision of my work.

In my previous career I worked for a Higher Education Institute. I was involved in laboratory Scientific Research and publications of data, I had the opportunity to present my findings at national and international conferences developing an extensive peer-reviewed publication record within the field of Opioid Pharmacology. Alongside this I held teaching and educational roles for postgraduate and undergraduate students including a pastoral career role for medical undergraduate students, acting as a personal tutor for a number of years.

My training, qualifications & experience

Post-graduate diploma, Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling
(UKCP Accredited), Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute, Nottingham

Certificate of Higher Education in Counselling
Vaughan College, University of Leicester

Doctor of Philosophy, PhD Research Project
“Functional Consequences of Nociceptin Receptor Activation”, University of Leicester

BSc Biological Sciences (Physiology)
University of Leicester