In September 2014, David Kraft set up an additional practice in Enfield Town. The reason for doing this was simple: over the last eight years, he had had a number of telephone calls from individuals in desperate need of psychotherapy who were simply unable to pay the fees in Harley Street. Some came for one or two sessions, while others made it very clear that it was too expensive. In fact, the £170 fee in Harley Street is very reasonable and it reflects the fact that you are seeing a top, specialist consultant in London. However, it is certainly the case that it is too expensive for many individuals seeking psychological support.
Please note that Enfield Therapy has now changed its name to Enfield Psychotherapy. The reason for the change of name is that people who specifically require psychotherapy can find the appropriate help in the local area. Enfield Psychotherapy also offers behaviour therapy and hypnotherapy.
To book an appointment, ring 0207 467 8564.
Harley Street is an excellent option for many people because there are not waiting lists. Many patients are fed up with contacting their GP and trying to book a session with a psychotherapist. And, even if they are lucky enough to get an appointment, they are normally given between 4-6 sessions with a CBT practitioner, an approach which is not always appropriate for the individual concerned.
Psychotherapy and counselling sessions in Enfield are still with David Kraft; however, the fees for appointments are significantly reduced. The basic fee for a session in Enfield is £100, while discounts are given for NHS referrals, individuals who are retired, the unemployed and those who make block bookings. Discounted rates are normally between £70 and £90, depending on circumstances.
Enfield Therapy is also easily accessible. The address is 70 Cosmopolitan Court, 67 Main Avenue, Enfield, EN1 1GD. You can ’phone for an appointment on 07946 579645. The service also provides telephone counselling for people leading busy lives.
The consulting room is just off the A10 between Edmonton and Southbury Road; it is also equidistant between Southbury and Bush Hill Park stations. For more information, please ‘phone the number above or e-mail office@londonpsychotherapy.co.uk/
Other Psychological Services in Enfield
The town of Enfield sits is part of the ‘Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental NHS Trust’. This service provides acute mental services and other psychological help in the North London catchment area: in fact, this service is responsible for over one million people. They offer specialist psychological support programmes through the NHS as well as voluntary support care and group workshops. The most important part of their work is helping to get people back into work, back with their social groups and, once again, leading normal lives. They also work closely with other agencies in order to provide the intrinsic needs of each patient. For more information about these services, please go to communications@beh-mht.nhs.uk.
The following is a list of support groups in the local area:
Burnt Oak Leisure Centre: 0208 201 0982
Walks in Barnet: 020 8359 4600
Barnet Mind Matters: 0300 222 5940
Inclusion Barnet: 020 8359 2444
Barnet Depression Alliance: 0754 118 7907 (referrals only)
The Network: 020 8359 3230 (referrals only)
Barnet Recovery Centre (for the addictions): 020 8702 4300
Barnet Voice for Mental Health: 07549 152527/020 906 7506
Eclipse: 0203 092 4071
MIND in Barnet: 020 8343 5700
Outreach Barnet: 020 3115 1185
Barnet Carers Centre: 020 8343 9698
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Support: 020 7700 1323
For general health enquiries, please dial 111. This number has essentially replaced the old NHS Direct number. This number can be used for both urgent and non-urgent medical and psychological advice. You can still contact your GP for health advice; but for more urgent psychological help, please call Enfield Therapy on 07946 579645. This service offers telephone counselling and face-to-face psychotherapy. There are relatively short waiting lists and the treatments are supportive and effective.
The NHS 111 service doesn’t replace the 999 emergency service; this number can be called for the police, fire department or ambulance service. For local medical enquiries, please contact Barnet Hospital on 020 8216 4600.
What is therapy and counselling?
There are various forms of therapy, psychotherapy and counselling services available. For more detailed information on the subject, please go to the BACP website at http://www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk/what-is-therapy/types-of-therapy. At Enfield Therapy, David Kraft and his colleagues use a combination of approaches including psychoanalytic psychotherapy, behaviour therapy, hypnosis and solution-focussed approaches. Most importantly, however, is the fact that the therapy offers you a safe, confidential place to talk about your life or, indeed, anything that may concern you, however painful or embarrassing. The approach used at Enfield Therapy is non-judgemental and caring. You will be given the opportunity to talk to someone who is trained to listen attentively and to help you to gain more control in your life.
When will I feel the benefits of the therapy?
At Enfield Therapy, we do not give guarantees as we feel that this is what sales people do. For some individuals, the therapy has immediate benefits; indeed, it is possible to overcome certain psychological problems in one or two sessions. For most conditions, however, we usually recommend allotting between 6-8 sessions; it is important, then, to review progress made at the end of the treatment programme. Others, decide to stay with their therapist for a period of time: this allows them to deal with deep-rooted problems so that they can move on in their lives.
What will my therapy be like and how will it make me feel?
Psychotherapy is a very personal process. Some people find that talking to a stranger is by far the best way to deal with their own emotional problems; however, others find that it take work and that, certainly in the beginning, it feel strange and awkward. David Kraft and his colleagues make every effort to ensure that clients feel at ease in the consulting room. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to ring and ask for advice. The best contact number is 0207 467 8564.
Will I be able to have therapy that understands my cultural background?
Certainly in this country, we are living in a cosmopolitan and highly versatile environment, rich with a plethora of different cultural modes of thought and behaviour. We have come a long way in the last few decades to address the problems of prejudice in the work place and in the social context, but we have still a long way to go. Most councils, schools, business and other organizations have policies regarding diversity and equality. And yet, even though individuals might have equal opportunities, exploitation still takes place within the community at large.
This issue is of paramount importance for the field of psychotherapy. As psychotherapists we should be non-judgemental and this includes our opinions with regard to race, colour, gender, sexuality, social economic status, lifestyle, disability, religious or cultural beliefs. The first point here is that we all have prejudices that we harbour from time to time, and we all generalize about stereotypical types. It is important to recognize this fact, analyse it and then, as far as possible, eliminate it. Explicit discrimination is the extreme of this behaviour. An individual who is explicitly discriminatory will exclude a member of a particular minority group regardless of their ability. An example of this might include a member of staff who deliberately does not promote an Indian lady to a higher position in the workplace because she is Indian even though she was the most qualified applicant. This is racism. Many individuals experience varying degrees of prejudice in society: for example, treating a deaf person as if he is stupid, bullying and laughing at a someone’s religious clothing, not acknowledging the point of view of someone with a strong regional accent, speaking very quickly so that a foreigner can’t understand, excluding someone with a disability from a party and so forth. These prejudices are hurtful to the individual involved. In many cases, individuals that have experienced prejudice go for psychotherapy: it is, thus, of paramount importance to understand the differences between cultures, economic backgrounds, age, religions and cultural beliefs so that one is aware of the challenges that they come across each day. It is also essential not to show any prejudice towards any creed or type.
It is for this reason that many organizations—for example the UKCP, BACP and the Institute of Transactional Analysis—have their own diversity and equalities policy, not just because it is important morally but also because if we promote everybody within a community to have equal opportunities, we will accelerate our understanding of many types of behaviour in our society. The UKCP’s committee is the ‘Diversity, Equalities and Social Responsibilities Committee’ (DEC) and and this council audits and evaluates psychotherapy training from the perspective of equality and diversity. Knowledge of different diversities in our culture will also help to reduce institutional discrimination. It is through our own analysis and in supervision that one gains more knowledge of our prejudices. Many psychotherapists in this country have been indoctrinated, in some way, to the Western models of psychotherapy without considering non-Western models and coping mechanisms. It is, therefore, interesting and helpful to consider the image that psychotherapy has in minority communities—for instance, amongst gays or lesbians, ethnic minorities, the disabled. We must all think about the prejudice we all have with regard to being male or female (Wheeler, 2006). Enfield Therapy is committed to providing non-judgemental therapy to all races and religions.
Will the therapy be confidential?
Yes. Everything that you say will be kept in the strictest of confidence. There are only a few exceptions to this rule and this usually relates to legal proceedings.
In the business world, companies use non-disclosure agreements (NDA) or confidentiality agreements (CA), as well as confidential disclosure agreement forms (CDA) and proprietary information agreements (PIA). These are legal documents between companies: these documents list confidential material and information that that must not be shared with one another.
In psychotherapy, there are no such documents but there is a rule that is understood by both therapist and client that everything he says will not be passed on to any other person. In fact, I do say on my application form that all information is kept in the strictest of confidence. I explain to my clients that confidentiality is extremely important and that all their notes and personally details are kept under lock and key. This is essential because, during therapy, many individuals give information about their unconscious desires and inner conflicts and, if this information is given to a third party, it could have a disastrous effect on an individual’s well being and trust of their therapist.
In 1996, the United States Supreme Court in Jaffe v. Redmond 518 U.S. 1 ruled against the disclosure of a psychotherapist’s notes. The court explained that doctors treat physical ailments objectively. By contrast,
‘Effective psychotherapy depends upon an atmosphere of confidence in which the patient trusts the psychotherapist’s commitment and capacity to protect their frank and complete disclosure of facts, emotions, memories and fears’.
However, I do point out that on occasions, some material is helpful for other clinicians and that, from time to time, I publish information in academic journals. Clients still have anonymity. No names are mentioned—in fact, a pseudonym is always used—and names of places, and recognizable features regarding home life are not specified. For example, If a lady called Sophie went to the University of East London and met her boyfriend, Bill, who was also studying chemistry in year 3 of the degree course, and I needed to include this in the study because it was important to the case material, I would probably write something like the following:
‘ Sandra went to meet her boyfriend at the university: they were both doing the same course and were both in their final year’.
In the past, it used to be imperative to write to clients’ GPs after the first session; and, in many instances, clients would be referred by GPs in the first place. Nowadays, it is up to the client whether he wants his GP to know or not, and if this is the case, a signed consent form is needed. However, it is good practice to inform GPs that you are working with clients; if one’s client does not want his GP to know that he is in therapy, it might be important to investigate the reasons for this during the psychotherapy. They might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this; but, at all times, therapists should consider the safety of their clients and of themselves.
There are exceptions to this confidentiality rule. If it becomes apparent that the client or a member of the family is being physically abused and that the appropriate steps have not been taken by the client to resolve this issue, therapists must explain to their clients that they have a moral and ethical obligation to pursue this. Emotional abuse is much more difficult to prove: in extreme situations, I would consult my supervisor about what to do.