DR. LYDIA FRENCH
DR. LYDIA FRENCH
PhD, MSc, MSt (Oxon), CPsychol, AFBPsS, MBACP, MUPCA (Accred)
ABOUT ME
Experience
For more than twenty years I have worked with people at the edges of things: infertility, loss, identity, the moments when a life no longer quite fits the person living it. People arrive with symptoms: depression, anxiety, exhaustion. That is where the work begins. But it rarely centres there. It centres on the moment you sense that the life you have built, however successful or well-managed it appears, is no longer quite yours.
I hold a PhD in Medicine from the University of Bristol and a four-year clinical Masters in Psychodynamic Practice from the University of Oxford, with grounding in Jungian psychology, CBT, and attachment-based approaches, and specialist clinical training in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy through MAPS.
I take the interior life seriously: the unconscious, the symbolic, the aspects of experience that resist neat explanation. My own path has been shaped by inquiry that goes beyond the formal: by depth work and direct encounter with altered states of consciousness.
I do not offer that as a credential. I offer it as context for the quality of presence I bring.
I work with a small number of people at any one time. This is deliberate. Genuine depth work is embodied work. When I am with you, you have my whole attention. I stay alive to that work by remaining an active researcher and thinker. The philosophical and clinical questions are never quite separate for me. I have a research project in development at Oxford University exploring psychotherapy and psychedelic experience, and I consult on psychedelic clinical trials.
Every person I work with is singular. I learn from them as much as I may offer. That is not a disclaimer. It is the nature of this work.
CREDENTIALS
Qualifications & Accreditations
PhD in Medicine (Bristol)
MSt in Psychodynamic Practice (Oxon)
MSc Health Psychology
BSc (Hons) Psychology
Professional Certificate in Investigational MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD. MAPS International Therapist Training (Sarajevo)
Professional Certificate in Somatic Embodiment & Regulation (Linda Thai)
Chartered Member (CPsychol) & Associate Fellow (AFBPsS) of the British Psychological Society. 110065
IPT Professional Member.
UPCA Accredited Clinical Member. 3031
BACP Registered Member. 404658
UKCP Accredited Member. 2011174170
I am currently in training at the Tavistock, London, undertaking their Advanced Standing qualification in Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.
THE WORK
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Most people who find their way to psychodynamic psychotherapy have already tried the other things. Self-help, habit-stacking, cognitive reframing, talking it through. They are not without insight. They are without relief. This is not a failure of intelligence or will. It is a consequence of working only at the surface of things.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy works differently. It is grounded in the understanding that much of our emotional life operates below conscious thought, shaped by experiences and ways of relating that formed long before we had the language or the distance to examine them. These patterns persist not because we are broken or stuck, but because they once served a purpose. They are, in a sense, loyalties that have outlived their usefulness.
The work involves bringing these patterns slowly into awareness, not through analysis alone, but through the living experience of the therapeutic relationship itself.
What emerges between two people in a consulting room is not incidental. It is the material. Psychotherapy is, above all, a meeting between two people.
Over time, this process creates genuine movement: not the resolution of feeling, but a different relationship with it. Greater freedom. More authentic choice. A self that is less managed and more inhabited.
PRACTICE
How I work
I work with adults in three particular ways: through weekly online Conversations, extended in-person Encounters, and immersive Residencies. I see a small number of clients and this is deliberate: the work I do asks a great deal of me as well as of you, and I will not offer what I cannot fully give.
I hold the frame of this work seriously. I am in regular supervision and in my own ongoing personal therapy. I believe that a therapist who is not themselves accountable to this process cannot ask it of anyone else.
I have particular experience working with people who require a high degree of privacy: professionals, public figures, and those whose circumstances call for careful discretion. Confidentiality is not something I treat as procedural. It is foundational.
I also have particular experience working with people navigating profound experiences of consciousness, whether arising through psychedelic experiences, meditation, dreams, illness, grief, or other significant life events.
Many people I work with also use AI as part of the way they reflect on their lives. I welcome that. It often becomes something we think about together.
If you are considering working together, the first step is simply an initial conversation. I offer a complimentary 30-minute telephone or online meeting to understand what brings you here, answer any questions you may have, and consider together whether we are the right fit to work with one another.
BEGIN
Ways of Working
Conversations
Weekly psychotherapy, Online
50 minutes (£150)
Conversations are at the heart of my practice and a good place to begin working with me.
Held weekly online, conversations create a steady rhythm in which a therapeutic relationship can develop over time. Rather than seeking quick answers, we stay with the questions, patterns and relationships that shape your life, allowing change to emerge gradually and deeply.
Encounters
In-person, London or South Hams, Devon
Half day | Full day (from £650)
Some moments ask for more space than a weekly conversation can offer.
Encounters are designed for times of transition, complexity or profound change. They are particularly suited to moments when something significant is changing and fifty minutes does not feels enough. Held in London or Devon, they offer uninterrupted time to think, feel and discover what ordinary life rarely allows.
Residencies
Ibiza (Individual or small groups)
3-5 days (by application)
Residencies are immersive experiences held on the beautiful island of Ibiza.
Whether working individually or in a carefully curated small group, they create the time and space to engage deeply with themes such as desire, relationship, altered states of consciousness and the transitions that shape our lives.
Enquire
I currently operate a waiting list.
All enquiries are read carefully and responded to by me. If I am unable to offer an appointment immediately, I will let you know the likely timeframe and discuss next steps.
If I am not the right person to work with you, I will say so and, where appropriate, help you consider other options.
PHONE
07966 034483