Lee McCallum
Registered Member MBACP
Contact information
- Phone number
- 01295408802
Therapist - Swalcliffe
Features
- Flexible hours available
- Concessionary rates
Availability
I meet with clients face to face and online, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, later on Mondays and Thursday.
About me and my therapy practice
I'm compassionate, direct and grounded in reality. I鈥檓 not a therapist who will simply agree with everything you say, nor do I believe the purpose of therapy is to make difficult feelings disappear. Sometimes life is painful, uncertain and unfair. Therapy can help us face that reality without being overwhelmed by it.
There is value in understanding why we think, feel and behave as we do, but insight alone isn鈥檛 enough. At some point, you have to change. That might mean confronting something you鈥檝e avoided, questioning a belief you鈥檝e held for years, accepting something you can't change, or taking responsibility for things you can.
The same is true in couples therapy. My role isn鈥檛 to decide who is right or wrong. I鈥檓 interested in what happens between you: the patterns you find yourselves repeating, and what has become difficult to say or hear. Change in a relationship requires both people to look honestly at their own part in it, rather than focusing on what the other one needs to do differently.
I don鈥檛 believe in forced positivity. I鈥檓 interested in what is true, what matters, and what might help. I'll understand your experience, but I'll also challenge you when it could be useful. You are free to disagree with me, instead of telling me what you think I want to hear.
What frightens or unsettles us reveals strengths we didn鈥檛 know we had. Camus wrote, 鈥淚n the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer.鈥 That doesn't mean everything happens for a reason, or that suffering is good for us. Sometimes life is difficult, and difficult periods show us what we鈥檙e really capable of.
Ultimately, I want our work to lead somewhere. There may be things you need to change, things you need to confront, and things you simply need to accept. Whether I鈥檓 working with you individually or as a couple, my role isn鈥檛 to tell you how to live, but to help you understand what is happening more clearly and make choices you can stand behind.
Practice description
I offer an initial consultation before we begin regular sessions. This gives us an opportunity to talk about what has brought you to therapy, what you would like help with, and what you hope might be different. It also gives us both a chance to decide whether working together feels like the right fit.
Sessions will be shaped around you rather than a fixed programme or single therapeutic model. I鈥檓 trained across several approaches, including person-centred, psychodynamic, existential, CBT and DBT, and I draw on these differently depending on the person I鈥檓 working with.
Our work may involve looking at the past and understanding how earlier experiences continue to influence the present. The focus may be more on what is happening now: patterns of thinking or behaviour, relationships, emotions, decisions, or changes you want to make. Often its a combination of these.
I also work with couples. Here, the focus is on the relationship rather than either person being seen as the problem. We'll look at patterns of communication and conflict, how each of you responds to the other, where you become stuck, and what sits underneath the difficulties between you. Couples therapy isn鈥檛 about who is right, but helping you understand what is happening and what needs to change.
Whether I鈥檓 working with an individual or a couple, you can expect a balance of support and challenge. There will be times when I listen and give you room to work something through, and times when I offer another perspective, notice a contradiction or challenge something. I don鈥檛 follow a formula, and I won鈥檛 assume that what works for one person will work for another.
Alongside private practice, I have worked across NHS CAMHS, adult forensic services, probation services, schools and colleges. This has given me experience of working with people from very different backgrounds and circumstances.
We can regularly review how the therapy is going, what is changing, what isn鈥檛, and whether our work remains focused.
My first session
The first session is a free, 30-minute online consultation. It gives us an opportunity to get to know each other a little and decide whether we feel we could work well together.
I鈥檒l ask about what has brought you to therapy, your current situation and what you hope to get from our work. I鈥檒l also explain how I work, what the therapeutic process might look like, and some of the practical aspects of starting therapy.
There will be plenty of opportunity for you to ask questions too. There鈥檚 no obligation to continue afterwards; the purpose of the consultation is simply for us both to decide whether working together feels like the right fit.
What I can help with
Abuse, ADD / ADHD, Addictions, Anger management, Anxiety, Autism spectrum, Bereavement, Child related issues, Cultural issues, Depression, Eating disorders, Identity issues, Life coaching, Loss, Men's issues, Mood disorder, Neurodiversity, Obsessions, OCD, Personal development, Phobias, Post-traumatic stress, Relationships, Self esteem, Self-harm, Sex-related issues, Sexual identity, Sexuality, Spirituality, Stress, Substance Dependency, Trauma, Work related issues
Types of therapy
CBT, Creative therapy, Existential, Family therapy, Humanistic, Integrative, Person centred, Psychodynamic, Relational
Clients I work with
Adults, Couples, Families, Groups, Young people
How I deliver therapy
Home visits, Long term sessions, Long-term face-to-face work, Online therapy, Short term sessions, Short-term face-to-face work, Single session therapy (SST), Telephone therapy, Time-limited