Psychological care shaped by experience
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D R DOWNES & ASSOCIATES - About us
Experienced psychological care, shaped by how we think and work
At D R Downes & Associates, our approach to psychotherapy is inseparable from our experience. Our methods, including EMDR therapy and psychotherapy CBT, have been shaped over many years through clinical practice, navigating complex systems, and understanding what it means to think clearly under sustained pressure.
We provide private psychological care that is thoughtful, steady, and responsive, designed for individuals whose lives or work involve responsibility, complexity, or ongoing demand. Additionally, we offer resilience coaching to help clients build the strength needed to manage life's challenges.
Enquires...
If you would like to explore whether working together feels right, you’re welcome to get in touch. Initial enquiries are handled directly by the practitioners, ensuring clarity, discretion, and a genuinely human response from the outset.
Understanding people within complexity and systems
Experience shapes our work
All clinical work is delivered by senior psychological practitioners, practising since 2008, with experience shaped by complex, high-pressure environments. Our approach incorporates techniques such as EMDR therapy, psychotherapy CBT, and resilience coaching, all informed by a deep understanding of organisational systems, responsibility, and decision-making under pressure. Experience shows in the ability to remain steady and clear when things are demanding.
An Integrative way of working
We work in an integrative way, guided by psychological understanding and professional judgement rather than allegiance to a single model, such as EMDR therapy or psychotherapy CBT. Our approach adapts to the individual and their circumstances, remaining flexible, relational, and effective when life feels complex or demanding. Integration here means discernment, not eclecticism, which can also include elements of resilience coaching.
Context and Culture
Our work is informed by experience across diverse cultural, social, and organizational contexts. We pay close attention to how background, values, identity, and environment shape how individuals experience themselves, take on responsibility, and respond to pressure. This perspective underpins our approach to psychological work, including EMDR therapy and psychotherapy CBT, ensuring it is culturally literate and context-aware, without reducing individuals to mere labels or assumptions. Additionally, we emphasize resilience coaching to help individuals navigate their unique challenges.
real people. real experience. real support.
Who we are
All clinical work is delivered by senior psychological practitioners, practising since 2008, with experience shaped by complex, high-pressure environments. Our approach incorporates techniques such as EMDR therapy, psychotherapy CBT, and resilience coaching, all informed by a deep understanding of organisational systems, responsibility, and decision-making under pressure. Experience shows in the ability to remain steady and clear when things are demanding.
David Downes
We work in an integrative way, guided by psychological understanding and professional judgement rather than allegiance to a single model, such as EMDR therapy or psychotherapy CBT. Our approach adapts to the individual and their circumstances, remaining flexible, relational, and effective when life feels complex or demanding. Integration here means discernment, not eclecticism, which can also include elements of resilience coaching.
Rebecca Downes
Our work is informed by experience across diverse cultural, social, and organizational contexts. We pay close attention to how background, values, identity, and environment shape how individuals experience themselves, take on responsibility, and respond to pressure. This perspective underpins our approach to psychological work, including EMDR therapy and psychotherapy CBT, ensuring it is culturally literate and context-aware, without reducing individuals to mere labels or assumptions. Additionally, we emphasize resilience coaching to help individuals navigate their unique challenges.
Neurodiversity-Aware by design
Our work is neurodiversity-aware, informed by specialist training and lived understanding of difference.
We adapt how we work to different ways of thinking, processing, and regulating, recognising that neurodivergence shapes experience in varied and individual ways. For some clients this is central to the work; for others it simply forms part of the background to thoughtful, individualised psychological care.
Those seeking more detail are welcome to explore our dedicated Neurodiversity page.
Integrating psychotherapy and resilience support
Alongside psychotherapy, we integrate resilience-focused psychological support where it is helpful.
This may include supporting regulation under sustained pressure, managing stress and emotional load, working with the impact of demanding roles or critical events, and strengthening the capacity to think clearly and respond rather than react.
Resilience work is always grounded in psychological understanding and tailored to the individual never delivered as a generic programme or bolted on as an afterthought.
How we work in practice
We work primarily remotely, supporting clients wherever they are. Remote work offers privacy, flexibility, and continuity, particularly for those living or working internationally, relocating, or managing demanding schedules.
A very limited number of in-person sessions are available in London and Chester, by arrangement, where clinically appropriate and availability allows.
We also accept a small number of insurance-funded cases, which are intentionally limited to protect clinical quality, continuity, and focus.
The practice structure
D R Downes & Associates operates as a sole-trader practice, supported by a husband-and-wife professional working relationship.
Each practitioner works independently with their own clients, bringing complementary experience within a shared professional ethos. This structure allows for depth, consistency, and discretion, without the impersonality of larger organisations.
The practice is small by design, not by limitation.
who this tends to suit
At D R Downes & Associates, our approach to psychotherapy is inseparable from our experience. Our methods, including EMDR therapy and psychotherapy CBT, have been shaped over many years through clinical practice, navigating complex systems, and understanding what it means to think clearly under sustained pressure.
We provide private psychological care that is thoughtful, steady, and responsive, designed for individuals whose lives or work involve responsibility, complexity, or ongoing demand. Additionally, we offer resilience coaching to help clients build the strength needed to manage life's challenges.
