Psychological care shaped by experience
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. How we work has been shaped over many years by clinical practice, by working within complex systems, and by understanding what it means to think clearly under sustained pressure.
We offer private psychological care that is thoughtful, steady, and responsive designed for people whose lives or work carry responsibility, complexity, or ongoing demand.
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 work is informed by understanding 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.
The work adapts to the individual and their circumstances, remaining flexible, relational, and effective when life feels complex or demanding. Integration here means discernment, not eclecticism.
Context and Culture
Our work is also informed by experience across diverse cultural, social, and organisational contexts. We are attentive to how background, values, identity, and environment shape how people experience themselves, carry responsibility, and respond to pressure.
This perspective supports psychological work that is culturally literate and context-aware, without reducing individuals to labels or assumptions.
real people. real experience. real support.
Who we are
Our story begins with a shared belief: meaningful mental health support comes not just from training, but from truly understanding what it’s like to struggle. As a husband-and-wife team with both lived experience and over 15 years of clinical expertise, we’ve walked alongside the challenges many of our clients face. That’s why we’ve built a practice that’s rooted in empathy, grounded in evidence, and shaped by real life not just textbooks.
David Downes
Senior Psychological Practitioner
David’s work is informed by a broad professional background, including service in the Royal Navy and many years within complex organisational and operational environments. Before retraining in psychotherapy, he founded and led a growing business, gaining first-hand experience of responsibility, decision-making, and sustained pressure.
He later retrained in psychotherapy, bringing this real-world experience into clinical practice. David has worked as an accredited psychotherapist and clinical supervisor for over fifteen years, supporting adults navigating high-pressure roles, organisational complexity, and long-standing personal challenges.
David is neurodivergent and was diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. This lived experience informs his understanding of attention, cognitive load, and difference, and is integrated thoughtfully into his work where helpful, without becoming its focus.
Rebecca Downes
Senior Psychological Practitioner
Rebecca’s work is informed by a professional background in strategic HR and organisational development, where she supported individuals and teams across start-ups, non-profits, and international organisations. This experience gave her a grounded understanding of how people navigate change, responsibility, and uncertainty within complex systems.
Alongside her professional work, Rebecca brings lived experience of neurodivergence, long-term health conditions, trauma, and complex grief. These experiences inform her sensitivity to issues of fatigue, fluctuation, identity, and emotional load, and are integrated thoughtfully into her clinical work where helpful.
Rebecca retrained in psychotherapy later in her career, bringing together clinical training with real-world and lived experience. Her approach is integrative, relational, and steady, adapting to the individual rather than relying on fixed frameworks or assumptions.
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
If you are looking for experienced psychological care that can hold complexity with clarity, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Our way of working tends to suit people who:
- Value experience, judgement, and steadiness
- Are carrying responsibility or sustained pressure
- Prefer private, self-funded psychological car
- Are comfortable working remotely
- Want care that adapts to complexity rather than simplifying
If you are looking for quick fixes, rigid structures, or formula-led work, this may not be the right setting.
