About Me

Lesley Burrows 

I started training in 1994 and qualified as a UKCP Psychotherapist (UK Council Psychotherapy) in 2001 at CCPE at Warwick Place in London.

My original therapeutic work specialised in domestic violence (eight years) with women and children and this work remains relevant today because it led me to reflect on relationships in the context of power and control, distance, closeness, healthy versus unhealthy.

During these 8 years I also trained in relational trauma and the impact of this on our capacity to create real intimacy. I then focused on couple work, attachment, communication, and healthy relating. I completed an Advanced Diploma in Couples Therapy at Regents College London (2014). However, where I learnt the most about honest and heartfelt communication beyond defences, has been within my own relationship of forty years.

The training that supported me to develop further my vision for healthy relationships, was a Systemic Skills Training at Basildon Hospital within the Adult Mental Health Team. I remained working in the NHS for seven years as part of The Systemic Family Therapy Team; that focused on family communication within Secondary Care.

I also worked in partnership with The Adolescent Support Clinic in Southend for many years providing training for schools in Adolescent mental health, self-harm, eating disorders, anxiety, and O.C D. These workshops provided practical ways to understand and meet distress in young people within the education system.

I have worked as a Supervisor for Counsellors since 2010, my official training was at The Maudsley Hospital, London and in 2017 I became a Recognised Supervisor (R.S.) with UKCP.
I have been in Private Practice since 2005 working with individuals and couples. I continue to provide Supervision for therapists.

I would like to acknowledge the following people who continue to influence my Practice over the last thirty years. Thank you for the work you have contributed to the field of therapeutic knowledge. It has been a pleasure to meet, work or train with you.

Jacqueline Daly /Dr. K. Bradford Brown/ Barbara Smith/ Tessa Builder/ Paul Mc Dermott/ Debra Deaville/ Chris Teng/ Prof. Karl Tomm/ Dr. David Schnarch/ Dr. Joan Lachkar/ Hedy Schleifer/ Angela Gruber/ Dr. James Hollis/ Esther Perel/ Terry Real/ Cathy McDermott/ Dr. Ellyn Bader

P.G. Diploma Psychotherapy and Counselling - CCPE London

Advanced Dip. Couple Therapy - Regents College London

Systemic Skills Training - NHS Basildon Hospital

Dip. Supervision - Maudsley Hospital London 

UKCP Registered Psychotherapist - UKCP Recognised Supervisor(R.S.)MBACP (reg)

Remember yourself. If you forget, remember yourself. That’s all.

Dr.K. Bradford Brown

The day came when it was more painful for the bud to stay closed than to open

Dr.K. Bradford Brown

We thought we always wanted love-until love came to us. Then we discovered we wanted safety

Dr.K. Bradford Brown

I cannot live without beliefs; the trouble is I have too many unexamined

Dr.K. Bradford Brown

No technique we employ in personal growth has any value unless it affects our relationships

Piero Ferruci

Out beyond ideas of of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field, I will meet you there’

Rumi

Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it

Rumi

Life begins not at birth
but with the onslaught of awareness.
Dr. K. Bradford Brown
©2025 Relationship Matters - Lesley Burrows: Registered Psychotherapist UKCP, Recognised Supervisor UKCP MBACP