About Us

Phil Joslin and Alan Bore are co-founders of The Surrey Centre for Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Eating Disorders, with almost 50 years of experience in private practice and managing teams in statutory services.

We have a particular interest in working with the spiritual life as it pertains to that which underlies eating disorders, addictions, and all forms of compulsive behaviours. At the heart of the psychological and physical disorder is inevitably a spiritual conflict regarding meaning, purpose, the struggle to manage loss and grief in all of its forms, and the hope for a life lived free of such pain and conflict.

We work with individuals and couples – taking care to create a welcoming environment for all. Our work seeks to attune us together to where we discover the blocks in your life and life-energy that have become imprisoned in the circular and rigid repetitiveness of the eating disorder or addictive behaviour. Through understanding together these impasses that are used to manage emotional pain, we are then in a position to understand their source and why they have become such powerful blocks to spontaneity, joy and the possibility of a full life. In essence, our belief and experience is that there is a central spiritual core to psychotherapy/analysis which needs addressing and a pathway cleared for it to emerge as the resource by which the person can and should fully live. It is this that will form the basis of our work with you should you choose to journey with us at The Surrey Centre.

Our Approach

Our approach is adapted to your needs. We will help you to explore the unconscious processes that cause emotional distress and prevent you from feeling at peace with yourself. We will engage closely with any traumas you may hold in mind and / or body and, in the process, we will bring you closer to your true nature and authentic spiritual self which allows personal growth and healing.

We also work with a very broad range of presenting issues including  depression, anxiety and difficulties in relating and relationships. We are here to help you work through it. Get in touch to arrange an initial consultation ahead of starting psychotherapy/analysis in Headley at the Surrey Centre, near Epsom, and online.

Different Way of Working

1. Counselling

Short-term work (several weeks) focusing on a specific issue, like relationships or anxiety, that provides a set of tools you can use to understand what causes these problems and how you can move towards managing/resolving them. Individuals who come for short term work end up staying longer because they find meaning and support through their psychological exploration.

2. Psychotherapy

Works with the impact of trauma and unconscious beliefs often from both early childhood and recent events. We will explore what has happened to you, as opposed to what is wrong with you. Our focus is on compassionate listening and understanding rather than making a diagnosis, creating the environment you need to understand the role of trauma in your life and overcome the emotional challenges you face. Psychotherapy is usually once or twice a week and is often longer term.

3. Jungian Analysis

Long-term work, this could be having three to four sessions per week, during which we will bring unconscious elements of your psyche into a more balanced relationship with conscious awareness and experience. Working in this way helps you discover meaning, understand the origins of issues like anxiety and/or depression, mature your personality and feel more aligned with your spirit. This is very much connected to Soul work.

4. Soul Work

Most individuals hope to find meaning in our life. Some people seek it through food, sex, alcohol, drugs, or relationships, only to end up feeling empty. You may feel like there is a deadness to your inner life. Soul work is a journey to discover the unconscious patterns that prevent us from living truly in the present, with a view towards metabolising your disturbed unconscious states and, in turn, facilitating the process of personal and spiritual growth. We use meditation as part of our work – particularly Heart Meditation (the spiritual heart not the physical one), as this helps to deal with inner wounds that leave us feeling paralysed.

Feeling disturbed, desperate, and empty and searching for meaning is what often brings people to any therapeutic work but searching and exploring the ‘divine’ ‘truth’ within us is the way to reconnect to what has been missing in our lives.