Eight people, one quiet house. Psychotherapists, counsellors and two practitioners who work with the body. Read about each of us, or tell us what’s going on and we’ll suggest someone.
Everyone 8 Anxiety and mood 3 Couples 2 Body and sleep 2 Grief and trauma 2
All eight practitioners, in person and online
Maya Okafor, read profile Integrative psychotherapist, founder Isla Grant, read profile CBT therapist Ruth Hallam, read profile Bereavement counsellor Tom Reid, read profile Couples therapist Clara Lindqvist, read profile Breathwork and somatic practitioner Arjun Mehta, read profile Psychotherapist, EMDR Hannah Bryce, read profile Nutritional therapist Daniel Moffat, read profile Counsellor How we match you. You don’t have to choose from a page of faces. On your free call, Maya or Isla listens for four things, then suggests one or two people.
What’s going on In your own words. A rough sense is plenty; working out the rest is what sessions are for.
How you’d like to work Structured, with short exercises between sessions, or more room to talk and see what comes up.
When and where Daytime, evenings or a Saturday morning, in the house or by video from anywhere in the UK.
Who you’d find easier Some people would rather see a man or a woman, someone older, or someone who speaks their language. Just say.
If the first session doesn’t feel right, tell us. Switching is free, and nobody takes it personally.
Profile “I wanted a practice where the therapists are looked after as carefully as the people they see. Most of what that means happens out of sight.” Maya Okafor Founder, StillroomClinical supervision Every practitioner meets an experienced supervisor from outside Stillroom at least once a month to talk through their work, anonymously. It keeps us honest and keeps you safe.
Registered and insured Each of us is registered with a UK professional body for our field, follows its code of ethics and holds professional insurance. Ask on your call and we’ll tell you which.
Your notes Notes are brief, factual and stored encrypted. You can ask to read yours at any time, and they are deleted seven years after your last session.
If something isn’t right Tell your therapist, or Maya directly. If you’re still unhappy, each professional body has a complaints process and we’ll give you the details.
Not sure who? Ask us. Tell us a little on a free 15-minute call and we’ll suggest one or two people. Most first sessions happen within a week.
“Nobody arrives knowing what to say. We start wherever you are, and I’ll do the steering.” Maya trained as a nurse before moving into psychotherapy, then spent twelve years in NHS and university counselling services. She opened Stillroom in 2016 because she wanted a place that felt more like a home than a waiting room.
She sees a lot of people who have coped well for so long that nobody, including them, noticed they weren’t fine.
Works with Anxiety and panic · Low mood · Health worries · Work stress · Self-criticism
Approach Integrative. Talking things through, practical tools for panic in the moment, and some attention to what your body is doing. Open-ended, or a focused block of twelve sessions.
Training Postgraduate diploma in integrative psychotherapy, MSc in counselling, trained clinical supervisor
Languages English
Sees clients Monday, Tuesday and Thursday · In person and online Previous Daniel MoffatNext Isla Grant“We’ll find the rules you’ve been running on, and loosen the ones that are wearing you out.” Isla spent eight years in an NHS talking therapies service before joining Stillroom in 2019. She works in short, structured blocks, usually eight to twelve sessions, with clear goals agreed in the first two.
Many of her clients are high achievers who are very tired: doctors, teachers, parents, people running small businesses.
Works with Burnout · Stress · Perfectionism · Generalised anxiety · Insomnia linked to worry
Approach Cognitive behavioural therapy. Practical and collaborative, with short exercises between sessions that fit around a normal week.
Training Postgraduate diploma in CBT, degree in psychology, registered CBT therapist
Languages English
Sees clients Tuesday and Wednesday, until 8pm · In person and online Previous Maya OkaforNext Ruth Hallam“There’s no right way to grieve. You can be as sad, or as angry, as you actually are.” Ruth worked for fourteen years as a counsellor in two hospices before coming to Stillroom in 2018. She sees people after a death, before one, and after losses that other people don’t always recognise as losses.
Sessions with Ruth are unhurried. Some people come for a few months; some return around anniversaries for years.
Works with Bereavement · Anticipatory grief · Baby and pregnancy loss · Loss after suicide · Divorce and estrangement
Approach Person-centred bereavement counselling. Ruth follows your lead, and doesn’t expect grief to move through stages in order.
Training Diploma in counselling, specialist training in bereavement and end-of-life care, registered counsellor
Languages English
Sees clients Wednesday and Friday · In person Previous Isla GrantNext Tom Reid“I don’t take sides. My job is to help you both hear what the other one is actually saying.” Tom has worked with couples for fifteen years, first at a relationship counselling charity and at Stillroom since 2017. He sees couples who want to stay together, couples who are deciding, and couples who want to separate well, especially where there are children.
He also sees individuals who want to talk about a relationship on their own.
Works with Repeated arguments · Trust and affairs · Becoming parents · Deciding whether to separate · Separating with children
Approach Couples therapy drawing on emotionally focused and systemic work. 75-minute sessions, usually fortnightly, with one individual session each near the start.
Training Postgraduate diploma in couple psychotherapy, diploma in counselling, registered psychotherapist
Languages English
Sees clients Monday and Thursday evenings, Saturday mornings · In person and online Previous Ruth HallamNext Clara Lindqvist“You can’t think your way out of a body that’s stuck on high alert. You can breathe your way down.” Clara trained in physiotherapy in Gothenburg, then in breathing retraining and somatic practice. She came to Edinburgh in 2015 and has led Stillroom’s breathwork course since 2020.
Her four-session course is practical and calm. Nobody lies on the floor hyperventilating; you learn slow breathing you can use on a bus.
Works with Waking at 3am · Panic attacks · Breathlessness with anxiety · Tension and jaw clenching · Recovering from burnout
Approach Breathing retraining and body awareness, taught as a four-session course, either one-to-one or alongside therapy with a colleague.
Training Degree in physiotherapy, certified breathing retraining practitioner, training in somatic approaches to stress
Languages English and Swedish
Sees clients Thursday and Friday · In person Previous Tom ReidNext Arjun Mehta“We go at your pace. Some things take a while to say out loud, and that’s fine.” Arjun has worked with trauma for eleven years, including six in an NHS psychological trauma service. He joined Stillroom in 2021 and offers EMDR alongside longer-term psychotherapy.
He works with single events, like an accident or an assault, and with harder things that went on for a long time.
Works with Trauma and PTSD · Difficult childhood memories · Birth trauma · Anger · Nightmares
Approach Trauma-informed psychotherapy and EMDR. The first sessions are about feeling steady; nothing difficult is approached until you’re ready.
Training Postgraduate diploma in psychotherapy, full three-part EMDR training, registered psychotherapist
Languages English, Hindi and Gujarati
Sees clients Tuesday and Thursday, until 8pm · In person and online Previous Clara LindqvistNext Hannah Bryce“I’ll ask about your sleep, your job and your week long before I ask what you had for lunch.” Hannah worked in hospital catering and public health before training in nutritional therapy. She joined Stillroom in 2022 and works closely with Clara and Isla when food, stress and sleep are tangled together.
She never prescribes a diet, and won’t ask you to weigh yourself.
Works with Low energy · Gut health · Eating on the run · Menopause · Food and mood
Approach Nutritional therapy looked at alongside sleep, stress and routine. A 75-minute first visit, then a written plan built around a normal week and two or three follow-ups.
Training Diploma in nutritional therapy, degree in public health nutrition, registered nutritional therapist
Languages English and French
Sees clients Wednesday and Friday · In person and online Previous Arjun MehtaNext Daniel Moffat“Your twenties are meant to be the good bit. It’s fine to say they don’t feel like it.” Daniel worked in a university counselling service and a young people’s charity before joining Stillroom in 2020. Most of his clients are in their twenties and early thirties.
He also sees couples at the start of their life together, and is the person most of our online clients outside Edinburgh see.
Works with Identity and sexuality · Leaving home and big moves · Loneliness · Social anxiety · Early relationships
Approach Person-centred counselling with some CBT. Relaxed and direct; weekly at first, then fortnightly once things settle.
Training MSc in counselling, diploma in working with young adults, registered counsellor
Languages English
Sees clients Monday and Friday, Saturday mornings · In person and online Previous Hannah BryceNext Maya Okafor
Maya OkaforFounder, Stillroom
