Providing London with free and low cost psychotherapy

Howard Hodgkin, Ice, 2013
Courtesy of the Estate of Howard Hodgkin

Our Services

  • What we offer

    CPU London offers group and individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy to anybody who is concerned about their emotional difficulties and is either seeking psychotherapy or looking for advice about which kind of psychological help would be best for them.

    We provide comprehensive, specialist consultations and long-term group and individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Individuals may refer themselves to us directly. Referrals can also be made by GPs, social workers, local hospitals and voluntary organisations.

    We offer a free service to those who cannot afford to pay. For those who are able to pay something towards the cost of their therapy we charge low fees on a sliding scale.

  • Consultations

    The consultation offers an opportunity to think together with a psychotherapist about your difficulties and about what kind of ongoing help, if any, you may need. The consultation may consist of more than one meeting and may lead to group or individual therapeutic help at CPU London or to a recommendation to other agencies.

    These meetings give an opportunity to get a better understanding of what psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves and whether this type of experience will be helpful to you.

    Psychoanalytic psychotherapy aims to bring about changes in how a person deals with their experiences in relation to themselves and others and help them to alleviate their emotional pain and distress.

  • Young People (18-25)

    We receive funding towards a number of fully-supported long-term (up to two years) psychotherapy places for young people aged 18-25. We welcome both self-referrals and referrals via health professionals for young people experiencing emotional and psychological difficulties. Please contact us for further information regarding the support we can offer.

  • Individual psychotherapy

    Psychotherapy at CPU London may be one possible outcome of the consultation process. We provide weekly psychotherapy sessions up to two years, which offer an opportunity to think together with a psychotherapist about the difficulties in more depth and on a regular basis over an extended period of time.

  • Group psychotherapy

    Group therapy at CPU London may be another possible outcome of the consultation process. We provide weekly group psychotherapy sessions for up to two years, which offer an opportunity to think, together with two group psychotherapists and with the other members of the group, about your difficulties and to benefit from sharing your experiences. Group therapy offers a way to explore your patterns of relating to others, on a regular basis and over an extended period of time.

  • Accessing Therapy

    If you are interested in accessing group or individual psychotherapy at CPU London please email us at enquiries@cpulondon.com and you will receive details of how our applications process operates and how to apply.

    There is a general scarcity of our type of service and as we are open to patients across London, we tend to experience a high volume of referrals. We are making every effort to expand our service capacity so as to maximise the number of people we are able to help and to reduce the waiting times for consultations and for therapy.

  • Languages spoken

    Our therapists can provide therapy in Bulgarian, Czech, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak and Spanish.

What people are saying…

  • “It was the best therapy I had... it helped build up my relationship with life (I was suicidal), with society, my future and – most importantly – with my child. The therapist rescued my life – I cannot pay her back.”

  • “Feel very grateful to be given such high quality help which I could not have afforded privately. I don’t know what I would have done with CPU - there is so little support for mental health issues in the NHS.”

  • “At a time when I felt utterly desperate, just being able to see someone and have the reassurance that I would be able to get help - albeit not at CPU - meant everything to me. I was referred elsewhere and fortunate enough to get the specialised help I needed - something that might not have happened were it not for CPU’s intervention.”

  • “It helped me talk things through and process my problems. Through this process I was able to prioritize issues clearly… I really appreciated the length of my therapy.”

  • “Willingness to help when I was desperate. The fact that CPU and the therapist was willing to help me when I was at my most desperate, and when there was no other service my GP knew of that could help.”

  • “An extremely necessary service helping vulnerable people who may not have any other support whereby they feel listened to and helped. A place where you are not judged and able to express your thoughts.”