Mihai Diaconescu

◇ Self-Awareness, Emotionality, Relationships, Intimacy and Meaning ◇

My work is grounded in the understanding that emotional and relational difficulties are rarely explained by thoughts alone. They are influenced by bodily experience, attachment history, personal values, cultural context, unconscious processes, and the ways we have learned to seek closeness, protect ourselves, withdraw, adapt, or maintain control.

My therapeutic approach draws primarily on humanistic principles, drawing from Existential Analysis and Logotherapy while integrating insights from other branches of psychology, western and eastern philosophy, and spirituality, including Buddhism and Kashmir Shaivism. This offers a comprehensive framework centred on the fundamental motivations for understanding human existence, guiding us in the exploration of your need for safety and grounding, enjoyment, authenticity, freedom and meaning.

Building on the foundation of existentialism, I also incorporate elements of somatic/body-centred, psychodynamic, internal family systems (IFS), integrative, and archetypal therapy. Central to my practice is a holistic view of the human experience, recognizing the mind as not only embodied and relational but also spiritual, shaped by both conscious awareness and the depths of the unconscious.

Existential therapy explores fundamental aspects of being human, including safety, belonging, freedom, responsibility, authenticity, purpose, and the search for a meaningful life. Rather than reducing distress to a set of symptoms, we consider how your difficulties relate to the whole of your experience and the particular circumstances in which you live.

Alongside my clinical work, I bring more than 20 years of experience in senior management and consultancy. This gives me a strong understanding of the pressures associated with leadership, responsibility, high performance, professional identity, and career transition.

My way of working is collaborative, reflective, and grounded. We are not looking for superficial solutions, but for a clearer understanding of what has shaped you, what matters now, and how you want to move forward with greater awareness, freedom, and inner consent.

◇ Individual Therapy ◇

Individual therapy can offer support when you feel anxious, overwhelmed, angry, low, uncertain, lonely, or disconnected from your sense of direction. We may explore identity, self-esteem, attachment, trauma, grief, work-related pressures, spiritual questions, or a feeling of being stuck despite considerable insight and effort.

Personal difficulties often become especially visible in close relationships. You may find yourself withdrawing, becoming preoccupied, people-pleasing, struggling to express needs, fearing abandonment, avoiding vulnerability, or losing contact with yourself when emotionally involved.

Our work can help you understand these responses from within, develop greater emotional awareness, and strengthen your capacity to recognise your needs, boundaries, values, and choices.

◇ Couples Therapy, Relationships and Intimacy ◇

I support partners who want to understand and change painful dynamics between them. Couples may seek help with persistent arguments, poor communication, emotional distance, diminished intimacy, differences in sexual desire, mistrust, betrayal, jealousy, major transitions, or uncertainty about whether and how to remain together.

The aim is not to decide who is at fault. We pay attention to the cycle that develops between you, the sensitivities and longings beneath it, and the ways each person’s protective responses affect the other. This can create room for more honest dialogue, mutual recognition, emotional repair, and renewed closeness.

I also work with individuals and partners exploring erotic life, sexual identity, shame, libido differences, kink, BDSM, polyamory, consensual non-monogamy, and ethical open relating. These conversations are approached with openness, curiosity, and sensitivity to the values and agreements that matter within your particular relationship.

◇ Our Work Together ◇

We begin with a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. This gives us an opportunity to speak about what brings you to therapy, experience how it feels to be in conversation together, and consider whether my way of working may be a good fit.

The first full session allows us to explore your situation in greater depth and identify the concerns that feel most important. You do not need to arrive with a clear explanation or a fixed goal. We can begin with your immediate experience and allow a fuller understanding to develop over time.

As the work progresses, we consider how safety, belonging, intimacy, autonomy, authenticity, and meaning influence your relationship with yourself and with others. By attending closely to your emotional and embodied experience, new possibilities can emerge for choice, connection, and a way of living that feels more truthful and alive.

2019 - present: Psychotherapist, Counsellor, and Existential Coach (private practice)
2015 - present: Somatic Therapist
2023 - 2024: Psychotherapist, Pathfinder Clinic, Ashness House
2024 - 2025: Psychotherapist, Thrive Therapeutic Clinic

Accreditations & Professional Memberships:
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
The National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS)
Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists (ACCPH)
Project Management Institute (PMI)

Psychotherapy Diploma in Existential Analysis and Logotherapy
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)
Healing Trauma: Interpersonal Neurobiology Clinical Strategies
Neurobiology of Attachment
Psychedelics, Altered States Integration, and Transpersonal Psychology