Therapy that takes your gender as a starting point rather than a question to be settled by someone else. For trans, non binary and questioning people, and for anyone carrying the weight of a gender that does not match what the world assumes.
Errikos Kotzakioulafis is a BACP registered counsellor and psychotherapist with over 10 years of experience in Newcastle upon Tyne. In-person sessions at The Old Fire Station in Gosforth and online appointments available.
Sometimes gender is the whole of the work. Often it is the backdrop to something else entirely, and it simply helps that it does not need explaining first.
A question that has been there a long time, or one that arrived recently and will not settle. Space to think about it without anyone waiting for a conclusion.
The distress of a body or a social role that does not fit, and the ways that distress spills into sleep, eating, concentration and how you treat yourself.
Telling parents, partners or children. Relationships that changed shape afterwards, and the grief that can come with that even when the decision was right.
Coming out at work, changing your name on records, managing colleagues who get it wrong, and deciding how much of your energy that is worth.
Years on a gender service waiting list is its own kind of strain. Therapy will not shorten the queue, but it can be somewhere to put the frustration in the meantime.
This is counselling and psychotherapy. It is not a gender identity clinic, not an assessment service, and not a route to medical treatment. Sessions do not produce a report, a diagnosis or a referral, and nothing you say here is being weighed up to decide whether you qualify for anything.
That distinction matters, because a lot of trans and non binary people have only ever encountered gender professionals in a context where they were being evaluated. Learning to give the answers that get you through an assessment is a reasonable survival skill. It is also the opposite of what therapy needs. Here there is nothing to pass, so you can say the uncertain and contradictory things out loud.
Plenty of people use therapy alongside an NHS or private gender service rather than instead of one. If you are already in that system, this can be the place to process it. If you are not, and have no intention of ever being, that is equally fine. There is no assumed destination.
The work is integrative, drawing on person-centred, CBT and ACT approaches according to what you bring. There will be no attempt at any point to talk you out of your gender or into it. Conversion practices are opposed by BACP and every other major UK professional body, and have no place in counselling.
Small practical things that decide whether therapy is usable in the first place.
Used from the first contact, whether or not they match your records. If you use different names in different parts of your life, tell me and correspondence follows suit.
You will not be asked to explain what non binary means, justify your terminology, or manage anyone's discomfort while they catch up.
Sessions are confidential. If being seen going into an appointment is a worry, online sessions and quieter times can usually be arranged.
Talking therapy that takes your gender as valid rather than as something to be tested or corrected. The work is whatever you need it to be, from exploring an unsettled question to managing the practical and emotional load of living as yourself.
No. This is counselling and psychotherapy, not a gender identity clinic and not an assessment service. Sessions do not produce a report, a diagnosis or a referral for medical treatment. Many people use therapy alongside a gender service rather than instead of one.
No. Uncertainty is one of the most common reasons people get in touch. There is no expectation that you arrive with an answer, and no pressure to reach one by any particular point. Deciding nothing changes is a legitimate outcome.
Yes. Non binary, genderfluid, agender and people who do not use a label at all are all welcome, and you will not be asked to translate your experience into a binary framework to be understood.
Yes, from the first contact, whether or not they are the ones on your records. If you use different names in different parts of your life, tell me and we will handle correspondence accordingly.
Yes, from the age of 16, for counselling support. There is more on how confidentiality works at that age on the counselling for young adults page.
Yes. Online sessions are available alongside in-person appointments at The Old Fire Station, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. They can help if privacy at home or travelling across the city is a concern.
I offer a free initial conversation so you can get a sense of how I work before committing to sessions. There is no pressure and no obligation.
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