In recent years, mental health has emerged as a pressing global issue, transcending borders and affecting millions worldwide. With increasing stressors, societal pressures, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, mental health challenges have reached unprecedented levels and have become a pandemic themselves (Centre for Mental Health, 2024) exacerbated by a shortage of qualified psychotherapists (UKCP, 2020, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2021). Despite this, access to affordable therapy services remains alarmingly limited, and unfortunately, the UK and Scotland are not an exception. Research suggests that while one in four people in Scotland suffer from poor mental health (Scottish Health Survey, 2021), 75% of people in the UK cannot access the mental health services they need (Mental Health Foundation, 2014).

In my own therapy practice, my clients often tell me they were told they would wait around 2 years for NHS-funded therapy in Scotland, and only clients whose conditions are deemed severe enough will be offered therapy of only 6 to 10 sessions. On top of this, the demand for therapy has dramatically increased since the pandemic with prospective clients now also struggling to secure private therapy without a long wait. For many, even if it was available, long-term private therapy is not an option due to the high costs, especially given the cost-of-living crisis. Mental health difficulties can lead to disadvantage or social exclusion in terms of maintaining relationships, holding down a job, or health issues. Those living in poverty, those with disabilities, those from LGBTQ+ or minority ethnic communities and carers are especially at risk and often need quick access to a responsive mental health service.

This is where ECPT comes in. ECPT specialises in training and therapy in the existential and psychodynamic approaches and seeks to fill the gap in provision and access to high-quality long-term therapy through its three branches: therapy training, therapy service, and therapeutic research in the existential psychodynamic approach.

In addition to hearing about the long waiting lists from my own clients and colleagues, the idea for the business also came from my own experiences as a student and staff member on various therapy courses and a clinical coordinator for a therapy service. Across all of these and within the industry in general, I was struck by how challenging it is for services to achieve consistency, containment, and accountability and how a lack of this easily becomes very frustrating from the client, student, and staff perspective. This inspired me to start developing a service that will provide its staff and service-users a better experience with people at its centre and anti-elitism as its core value. I believe that access to mental health support, resources and research should be inclusive and accessible to everyone. I bring my own extensive experience and professional expertise to the design and management of the Centre, along with the help of a team of colleagues, all experienced psychotherapists, who enrich our teaching, supervising, and coordinating of our students and trainees.

Ana Puljic

Founding Director