My Background

John Mackessy, MA, Adv Dip Couns, Dip Supervision, MBACP Accred.

I began counselling back in 2001, and am fully UK qualified and BACP Accredited (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) as a counsellor and psychotherapist, holding an Advanced Diploma in Humanistic Integrative Counselling and a Diploma in Clinical Supervision. I also gained a first class honours degree from the University of London, and received a distinction for my Master's degree. My Master's thesis examined different approaches to psychotherapy and was published as a series in Self & Society - International Journal for Humanistic Psychology

I have worked a great deal in higher education at the University of Law and London Metropolitan University, where I coordinated the personal development project and the volunteer counselling service. 

I was Senior Counsellor and Service Coordinator for some years at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and also worked with Action for Blind People. To make our service accessible all counselling sessions were held over the telephone.

I currently teach on well-regarded counselling trainings at CPPD Counselling School in north London and occasionally publish articles and chapters related to counselling and psychotherapy.

I have also worked privately in London as a trainer, counsellor, coach, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor of counsellors and psychotherapists. Currently, the majority of this is done online or by telephone. As I hope comes across here, I am very experienced in all of these fields.

Prior to RNIB, I worked for WITNESS Against Abuse with people who had suffered trauma and abuse, including abuse by counsellors and therapists. Through this, I learned a great deal about counselling from clients' perspectives and, I believe, to counsel in a way that feels safe and respectful to my clients.

For three years I was part of the counselling team at City Lit, counselling students in higher education. Some of this work was with people with learning difficulties who were returning to education. Students would come to the counselling service with a wide range of issues, from problems with their studies and events in their lives, such as relationship problems, to ongoing mental health concerns.

Prior to my counselling work I ran an Employment and Training Project in Haringey for MIND. This involved helping people to access educational, training and work opportunities and supporting them during this process. I have also worked in the past as a teacher, run workshops and offered training and facilitation, mainly to counsellors, social workers, psychotherapists and people who use mental health services.