Lancaster · since 2014

Anyone can call themselves a therapist.

In the UK the titles are not protected and there is no statutory regulator, so the accreditation badge on a website means nothing you can check. This page therefore opens with our register numbers, our fee and our cancellation policy — the three things a directory listing will never tell you.

Ask about a free 20-minute call Read the arrangements first

Fifty-minute session
Concession places, means-tested
Cancellation notice
Wait for an evening slot

A quiet room with an armchair set beside tall bay windows

The frame

The whole working agreement, before you write to us

Therapists call the practical arrangements the frame: same time, same room, same length, same fee, and what happens when one of us cannot make it. It is normally produced at the first session, once you have already committed. Here it is instead.

Length: Fifty minutes
Rhythm: Weekly, the same slot
Fee: £58 a session
Cancellation: 48 hours, then charged
Commitment: None
Review: Session six, then twelve
Breaks: Four weeks' notice
Where: The rooms, or online

Nothing here changes once you start Written out in full, signed by both of us, at the first session. If any of it does not work for you, say so before you book — it is easier to change now than later.

Who we are, and how to check

Four therapists, four numbers you can look up

Most therapy websites show you a logo. A logo can be pasted into any footer by anyone. What you can actually check is a membership number against a public register, so that is what is printed here — at the same size as the name.

One of these four is on a statutory register and three are not, and the difference matters enough that we mark it. Only counselling psychologist is a title protected by law.

Ruth Ellwood

Founder · Integrative counsellor and psychotherapist

Standing MBACP (Accred) — 450+ supervised hours beyond qualification

Supervision 2 hours a month, BACP-accredited supervisor

Practising Practising since 2009. NHS Talking Therapies at Morecambe Bay 2009–2014, then here.

Works with Anxiety and panic · bereavement · work, burnout and identity · adjustment to diagnosis

Check it Search 372481 at bacp.co.uk/therapists

Daniel Rowntree

Psychotherapist · Psychodynamic

Standing UKCP-registered — four-year training, personal therapy required throughout

Supervision 1.5 hours a fortnight, UKCP-registered supervisor

Practising Trained at the Northern Guild, qualified 2016. Here since 2018.

Works with Long-standing patterns in relating · endings and separation · trauma · dreams

Check it Search 2011458 at ukcp.org.uk/find-a-therapist

Dr Anwen Pryce

Counselling Psychologist · CBT, schema and CAT

Standing "Counselling psychologist" is protected by law. Using it without HCPC registration is a criminal offence.

Supervision Monthly, plus quarterly peer group

Practising DPsych 2018. Eight years in an NHS complex-needs service before joining in 2022.

Works with OCD · panic · health anxiety · trauma-focused work · assessment where the picture is unclear

Check it Search PYL04812 at hcpc-uk.org/check-the-register

Marek Sadowski

Counsellor · Person-centred

Standing MNCPS (Accred). Works in English and Polish.

Supervision 2 hours a month, plus the concession caseload reviewed quarterly

Practising Qualified 2019. Leads the six concession places.

Works with Low mood · self-esteem · relationship difficulty · migration, family and belonging

Check it Search NCS19-04471 at ncps.com/find-a-therapist

The work

Four ways the hour is used here

Not four products. One appointment, approached four ways, and which one suits you is the main thing the free call is for.

Time-limited, structured

CBT and schema work with Dr Pryce. A formulation in the first two sessions, an agreed number after that — usually twelve to twenty — and homework between them. Best when there is a specific thing you can name.

Open-ended, exploratory

Psychodynamic work with Daniel. No stated number of sessions, because the point is what comes up rather than what you arrived with. People who have already done a short course often want this next.

Integrative

Ruth's, and the most common here. Person-centred as the ground, with structure borrowed where it helps. Suits people who do not know yet what shape they want.

Online, at the same fee

Video on a UK-hosted platform, same fifty minutes, same frame. Roughly a third of the work here is online and it is not the lesser half. It is what makes a 07:30 slot possible.

Scope

What we work with — and what we don't

The second column is the one almost no practice publishes. Being told at the end of a paid assessment that you are in the wrong place is worse than reading it now.

We work with

Anxiety, panic and worryIncluding health anxiety and anxiety that has narrowed what you can do.
Low moodWhere it is not currently severe enough to need medical management — see the other column.
Bereavement and lossIncluding losses that were never treated as losses: a job, a country, a pregnancy, a marriage.
Work, burnout and identityThe single most common reason people write to us in January.
Relationship difficultyIndividually, or as a couple with Ruth.
Long-standing patternsThe same thing happening again with different people. Open-ended psychodynamic work with Daniel.
OCD, and trauma-focused workWith Dr Pryce, who is HCPC-registered, and where we would also want you to have a GP involved.

We don't, and here is where to go

Anyone who needs to be seen todayNHS 111 option 2, or Samaritans on 116 123. We are not a crisis service and we do not read email at night.
Active psychosis or maniaYour GP, or NHS 111 option 2. Talking therapy is not the first thing you need.
An eating disorder needing medical monitoringGP referral to a specialist service. Beat's helpline is 0808 801 0677.
Addiction needing a detoxYour GP, or Change Grow Live in Lancaster. We can work alongside recovery, not instead of it.
ADHD or autism assessmentWe do not diagnose. Ask your GP about referral, or about Right to Choose.
Court reports and medico-legal workWe do not undertake it, and we will not write one later for work that started as therapy.
Under-18sEighteen and over only. For younger people, your GP can refer to CAMHS, or try Lancashire Mind.

The route in

Four steps, with a real time against each

The NHS median wait to a second appointment in England was 37 days in the quarter to May 2026. Ours is not a fair comparison — we are paid — but you should be able to see it either way.

You write, or ring

Two lines. What is going on, and which hours you could actually come. No form fields you cannot answer yet.

Reply in 2 working days

A free 20-minute call

With the therapist you would actually see, not an assessor. It is mostly practical: what you want, who fits, whether we are the right place at all.

Within 3 working days

A first session

Fifty minutes, the full fee, no assessment surcharge. We write the frame out and both sign it. You are not committed to a second.

10–14 days for an evening slot

Then weekly

The same hour each week, reviewed at session six on CORE-10 and again at twelve. Stop whenever you want to.

No end date set in advance

Outcomes

What we measure, including the part that isn't flattering

CORE-10 at the first session, at session six, at twelve and at the end. It is the same instrument NHS Talking Therapies uses, which is the only reason these numbers mean anything.

18.4 → 8.9 Mean CORE-10 score at first and final session, across 71 completed courses of work in 2025

68% Showed reliable improvement — a change larger than the instrument's own measurement error

14 Median number of sessions. A quarter of people had six or fewer

31% Stopped before session six. We publish it because it happens, it is allowed, and nobody will chase you

These are our own figures for our own clients and they are not a prediction about you. Nothing here is a claim that therapy treats or cures a diagnosed condition.

Confidentiality

Who else finds out — and the three times somebody does

What gets written down

Brief notes after each session — themes, risk, what we agreed. Not a transcript. Held encrypted, kept seven years from the last session, then destroyed. You can ask to read yours and we will show you.

The three limits, stated plainly

We would break confidentiality if we believed there was a serious risk to your life or someone else's; if a child or an adult at risk appeared to be in danger; or if a court ordered disclosure. In the first two we would tell you we were doing it and, wherever possible, do it with you.

Your GP

We do not write to them. Not at the start, not at the end, not to tell them you came. The exceptions are that you ask us to, or that a limit above applies.

Supervision — the thing that sounds like a breach and isn't

Every therapist here discusses their work monthly with a supervisor, anonymised. It is a condition of registration on all four registers, not an optional extra, and it is one of the few real safeguards in an unregulated trade. Your name does not go into the room.

Employers, insurers and EAPs

Nothing goes to any of them. If you were referred through an employee assistance programme, they receive attendance dates and nothing else, and we will tell you exactly what that is before the first session.

Data protection

We process special-category health data, so we pay the ICO data protection fee and our entry is public: ICO ZB417702. The full privacy notice is given at the first session and by email on request.

I had the tab open for about a year. What made me finally write was that the fee and the cancellation policy were on the front page — I knew what I was walking into before I had to say anything about myself.

Client, ended 2025. Quoted with written permission given after the work finished, and anonymised at their request. We do not ask people for these while they are still coming.

If you need help tonight

We are a weekly appointment, not an emergency service. Email here is read twice a working day and not at all at night, at weekends or during our breaks. If waiting until then is not safe, use one of these instead — all four are free and all four are answered.

NHS 111, then option 2
24/7 mental health crisis line, live nationally since 2024111
Samaritans
Free, 24 hours, every day of the year 116 123
Shout
Text if you cannot speak 85258
Ambulance or A&E
If your life or someone else's is at risk 999

Starting

You do not have to ring anybody

Most people write first. Two lines is enough — what is going on, and which hours you could actually come. You will get a reply from a named therapist, not a reception desk.

Write to us Or ring 01524 840 118

Replies within two working days. The free 20-minute call usually happens within three.