James Kernan

My name is James Kernan and I am an integrative psychotherapist. At the heart of my work is the belief that you are the expert on your own experience. My role is not to tell you who you should be, or to provide ready-made answers, but to create a therapeutic relationship in which you can explore yourself, your experiences and your relationships with greater honesty, curiosity and compassion.

As an integrative therapist, I draw on different therapeutic perspectives rather than expecting everyone to fit one particular model. Our work is shaped around you, what has brought you to therapy and what begins to emerge through our conversations.

I work affirmatively with LGBTQ+ clients and understand sexuality and gender within the wider context of a person’s life. Being LGBTQ+ is not assumed to be the reason you have come to therapy. At the same time, there can be value in recognising the emotional impact of experiences such as discrimination, rejection, stigma, concealment, minority stress or feeling different. Therapy can offer a space where these experiences can be explored without having to explain, defend or minimise who you are.

I also have extensive experience working with addiction and recovery, mental and emotional wellbeing, relationships, attachment, self-esteem, identity, shame and belonging. I am interested not simply in symptoms or labels, but in understanding the whole person and the experiences, relationships and circumstances that have shaped them.

I have worked therapeutically with people for over 15 years and bring this experience alongside a warm, relational and non-judgemental approach. I am based in Belfast and currently offer online psychotherapy to adults across Northern Ireland and the UK.