Welcome.
If you’ve found yourself on this page, I imagine you might be going through a challenging time or perhaps feeling stuck in some area of your life. Maybe you’re wondering whether it’s time to reach out for support.
If I were in your position, I would be hoping to find a therapist who truly understands me, someone who can stay with me in my stuck places, support me through the pain, and help me find new ways of understanding my struggles, gradually opening the door to different ways of relating, behaving, and being.
With that in mind, I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself, in the hope that you’ll get a sense of whether I might be someone you can feel safe with on this journey.
I have a solid and diverse background in psychology and psychotherapy. I began my training in China in 2011 and became a nationally certified psychological counsellor in 2016. Over the years, I’ve engaged with a wide range of therapeutic approaches and attended numerous professional workshops in modalities such as psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy, humanistic and existential therapy, and group work.
In 2018, I moved to the UK to pursue a more structured and in-depth study of psychotherapy. I completed a Master’s degree in Psychology, followed by a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology from 2020 to 2024 (my registration number with the Health & Care Professions Council is PYL045948). During my doctoral training, I received formal instruction in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Compassion-Focused Therapy. In addition, I undertook a year-long training in psychoanalysis at both the Tavistock and the Institute of Psychoanalysis, further enriching my clinical perspective.
Since 2016, I’ve been working consistently with individual clients. I have experience across a variety of settings within the NHS, including primary and secondary care, psycho-oncology services, suicide crisis interventions, as well as inpatient and outpatient mental health care. I have also worked in private practice. Over the past nine years, I’ve had the privilege of supporting adolescents, adults and couples from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, belief systems, and life stages.
In parallel with my professional journey, I’ve also been a long-term client myself. I began therapy in 2016 and have continued ever since. I firmly believe that to truly understand the vulnerabilities, hesitations, and transformations that can arise in therapy, one must have lived through them. There’s a well-known saying among therapists: “You can’t take a client somewhere you haven’t been yourself.” This rings deeply true for me.
My own therapeutic journey has given me a more profound understanding of life’s complexities and has helped me shift long-standing patterns in how I relate to myself and others. It has been, and continues to be, a transformative process—one that informs the way I sit with my clients today.
If you feel ready, I’m here to walk alongside you, to explore, understand, and move forward together. Dr Xia Feng Psychology at North London Therapy Practice Finchley
I also offer therapy in Mandarin.