Oliver Garcia Aleman

Oliver Garcia provides a warm, non-judgmental, and safe space for clients to be their authentic selves no matter their walk of life or the issues they wished to explore. In his counselling sessions, Oliver supports clients explore difficult thoughts and emotions, and find their inner resources that can lead them to alleviate their suffering or crafting a path of self-discovery that connects them to their true self. He believes each client is unique, so he offers an integrative approach to counselling depending on client needs and preferences. His counselling approach is primarily client-led and focused on the present moment, but he is also acutely aware of the importance of the past, patterns of thought and behaviour, relationships) and beliefs, and he combines this with mindfulness to help clients focus on the present moment, develop gratitude and self-compassion.

Having developed a career in HR, and leadership in a corporate setting, Oliver is acutely aware of the pressures that people can feel whilst trying to live up to expectations of a high-performing culture (both internal and external). Being born and raised in a different country, he can understand the pressures to conform and issues of identity, belonging and discrimination. He also has personal and counselling experience with LGBTQ people as well as HIV issues and can help make sense of the often unnoticed internalised stigma associated to being a member of this community.

Oliver is a student member of the BACP, holds a BSc in Psychology and is currently studying a postgraduate diploma in integrative counselling and psychotherapy. He is bilingual in Spanish and Catalan, as well as English and holds a certificate in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. Oliver works within The Awareness Centre’s NHS counselling service in Wandsworth.