John Söderlund

Introduction

I am a licensed counselling psychologist, registered with the HPCSA and working in Cape Town, South Africa. I work in an insight-oriented and solutions-oriented approach with clients around the world, both online and in-person. 

I aim to ensure that therapy can be a safe space in which to more consciously understand the relationship between what we feel, think and do in order to make decisions that are congruent and sustainable, and that give us a more lasting and deeper sense of meaning. 

Professional interests

Since 2000, I have been providing psychotherapy to individuals and groups to deal with a wide range of difficulties. Special areas of interest include depression, anxiety difficulties, substance use disorders, couple relationships and the complexities of navigating an increasingly time-urgent, myopic and pressured world.  

Increasingly, I provide internet-based counselling services to a wide range of clients around the globe. Please contact me if you have an interest in online counselling and therapy. 

Between 2000 and 2016, I cofounded and served as the editor of New Therapist magazine (http://www.newtherapist.com), an international magazine for psychotherapists, providing essential support to therapists around the world who are interested in ensuring that they provide a thoroughly informed, sustainable, ethical and effective service to their clients. 

Corporate and online services

Since 2000, I have designed and implemented wellness and psychological services to corporate and organisational clients through employee assistance providers. To date, these services have been used by over 300,000 members of the South African workforce. 

Guiding principles

I regard integrity in our most important relationships as central to our overall health and find much satisfaction helping couples to become more real and engaged with one another when those relationships feel most under threat. I  have a strong interest in how our behaviours in daily life subtly, but powerfully, influence our overall sense of wellbeing and in how we can make changes to these to tip the balance towards increasingly engaged and confident ways of being in our home and work lives. 

I have worked for many years in helping people who are struggling with one or another kind of addiction, both as inpatients and as outpatients. I believe that addiction is often an attempt (albeit misguided) to soothe unmanageable emotions and that recovery is about finding more sustainable ways to deal with the emotional distress, gain insight into the dynamics of the addiction and chart a path towards dedicated commitment to taking the long road home.

As my own age marches relentlessly onwards, I am increasingly interested in how we seek meaning that goes beyond simply making a living, raising a family and being a respectable citizen. I see creativity as an essential component of psychological health and enjoy exploring with my clients where that can be most meaningfully nurtured. I also pursue a range of creative pursuits that I believe are central to my own wellbeing, including photography, musical composition and performance, and the building of custom guitars for clients around the world.

“The experience of speaking from the heart and being taken seriously builds the psychic architecture that supports the capacity to bear life.”

― Nancy McWilliams PhD

Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google. Google utilizes the data collected to track and examine the use of this site, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services.

Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

Personal data collected: Cookie and Usage Data. Place of processing: South Africa. Find Google's privacy policy here.