About Me

My mission is to deliver cutting edge therapy.

I am a counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist with 20 years’ experience helping individuals with all aspects of mental health, anxiety and trauma healing. I am trained at Master’s level with two MSc qualifications, one in neuro-developmental psychology, one in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, and further training in counselling, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, Mindfulness, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), trauma informed therapy and rapid transformation therapy. These are powerful techniques that promote rapid change.

Read more about Hypnotherapy.

My Approach

As most therapists, becoming a therapist has been and continues to be a personal journey. I started in academia, studying the maturation of our brain and central nervous system in-utero and over the early years, which has taught me to develop critical thinking, and a deeper and more selective understanding of all the information out there, often used to give legitimacy to a lot of new theories and approaches.

From psychology to counselling, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, I have a solid foundation from which I have developed my clinical practice. I continue to train and favour techniques that engage unconscious processes, drawing from Ericksonian hypnosis, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), poly-vagal theory and somatic mindfulness, and systems based on symbolic representations like IFS (Internal Family Systems) that I have tried and tested as part of my own healing.

If you feel ready to start therapy now or simply feel curious and want to know more, please contact me on +44 (0)7838169923.

Experience

Before starting in private practice in 2019, and beyond my training, my experience spans:

2018: Counsellor at the Lambeth Academy, a secondary school in London, serving a multi-cultural community.
2016: Working in the NHS, in a Tier 3 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) at Kaleidoscope, in the Borough of Lewisham, London.
2015: Working in the NHS, in a Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), in the Child and Adolescent Forensic Service, at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital, dealing with cases related to sexually harmful behaviours.
2008-2016: Sessional counsellor for the NSPCC, working on the night service at Childline.

This experience gives me a unique insight into different developmental pathways of neuro-diversity, emotional and personality dis-regulation. But in my work now, I treat individuals as individuals, not labels.

Interests

I love jazz music and organise events for the London Loves Jazz Meetup, a platform that connects jazz lovers with jazz musicians, producers and venues in London. For further information, please visit https://www.meetup.com/london-jazz/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/48344162646

I volunteer once a week at the local Salvation Army shop in Nunhead. I am in charge of books, sorting out donations and re-stocking the shelves. I enjoy helping and chatting with the customers. For further information, please visit https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/nunhead-village-charity-shop

Qualifications

Further training and CPD

Combining IFS and EMDR for Complex Trauma, Dr Fatter, PESI (2026)
Mind Reboot, 2025, https://www.ichangeworks.com/mind-reboot
Trauma informed practice level 1 & 2: The neurobiological legacy of trauma, Dr Janina Fisher, PESI (2024).
Training in NLP and Solution Focused Therapy, https://ichangeworks.passion.io
Training in Hypnotherapeutic Counselling at the National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy (2017-19), https://nchp.ac.uk
Mindfulness training, 2017, https://www.bemindfulonline.com/
CBT training, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College, London, 2016.
Mind over Matter, BPS, 2016
Parenting skills training, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College, London, 2016.
Using Play in Children’s Therapy workshop, Place2B, 2011, https://www.place2be.org.uk/
Psychosynthesis and Creative Visualisation workshop, University of East London, 2010, https://psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/
Child Centred Solution Focused counselling training Childline, NSPCC, 2008, https://www.childline.org.uk

Academic Research

Most recently, I have contributed to epidemiological research studies to better our understanding of neuro-diverse developmental pathways.
2017: Research Assistant, REACH study (Resilience, Ethnicity and Adolescent Mental Health), led by Prof C. Morgan, King’s College, London, 2017.
2017: Research Assistant, Autism and ADHD Comorbidity study, led by Prof J. Turk, King’s College, London, 2017.
2016: ‘Are there reliable predictors, during the preschool years, of a neurodevelopmental cascade leading to the emergence of ADHD in childhood?’.
2011: ‘Characterizing suicidal women in pregnancy and early postpartum’.
2011: ‘An international review of early childcare models’.
2009: ‘Comparative experience of fatherhood using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)’.

Publication

Systematic Review of Mindfulness Induced Neuroplasticity in Adults: Potential Areas of Interest for the Maturing Adolescent Brain. Kirk, V., Fatola, C. and Romero Gonzalez, M. Journal of Childhood & Developmental Disorders (2016).

Professional memberships and insurance

I am a Graduate Member of the BPS (British Psychological Society) and member of the UK Association for Solution Focused Practice (UKASFP). I follow the UKCP and NCH Professional Codes of Ethics and subscribe to a professional liability insurance policy with Towergate.

Privacy Policy

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Ivy Kirk Hypnotherapy

COUNSELLING & HYPNOTHERAPY IN SOUTH EAST LONDON