Mandy van Zwam: about me
I'm Mandy van Zwam, a psychotherapeutic counsellor, and Highfields Therapy is my private practice. I work with adults in Beeston, Nottingham, and online across the UK, in English and Dutch.
I am not a crisis or medical service. If you need urgent help, call Samaritans on 116 123 (free, any time), NHS 111, or 999 in an emergency.
How did I get here?
Not in a straight line. I was born in the Netherlands, grew up between there and Belgium, and spent years in France before settling in England. Before training as a therapist I worked as a translator and project manager, and I still notice how much of that work was about listening for what people actually meant. Moving countries, languages and careers taught me something about starting again, and about how much of ourselves we carry with us when we do.
Somewhere along the way I found myself drawn to the conversations that happened underneath the work, and I decided to train properly for them.
Photo to come: Mandy on the towpath, walking, or with the dog and a coffee
What is my training?
I am studying for an MSc in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy at the University of Staffordshire, a four-year training that I began in 2024 and expect to finish in July 2028. Alongside my studies I see clients in a counselling placement, and I work under regular clinical supervision, which is a requirement of the training and something I would want anyway. My private practice opens in 2027. I am a psychotherapeutic counsellor now, and a trainee psychotherapist until I qualify. I am a student member of UKATA, the UK association for transactional analysis.
Transactional analysis, or TA, is a way of understanding how we relate to ourselves and to other people. It looks at the patterns we learned early, often before we could choose them, and at how those patterns keep playing out in adult life. The good news in TA is that once you can see a pattern, you can change it. I also draw on developmental and relational theory more broadly, which is what "integrative" means when I use it.
How do I work?
I work integratively and relationally, which in plain terms means two things. First, I don't apply one fixed method to everyone. I pay attention to what you need and adapt. Second, I take the relationship between us seriously as part of the work. How you experience me, and how I experience you, tells us something about how you relate to people outside the room.
My rationale for practice is rooted in a deep belief in the healing potential of the therapeutic relationship, and in walking alongside you through that process. In practice, I pay close attention to how your early experiences and relationships continue to shape your life today, including what is unfolding between us. Noticing these patterns as they show up, in the here and now, is often where some of the most meaningful work happens.
I also mentor students, which is a different kind of work, more practical and forward-looking, but it comes from the same place: an interest in how people change.
Who am I outside the therapy room?
Usually (slow) running, enjoying a coffee, watching films, or acting as my dog's emotional support human. I speak Dutch, English and French, in roughly that order of ease before coffee.
What can you expect from me?
- A warm, non-judgmental space. You will not be told off, analysed at, or hurried.
- Honesty about what I can and cannot help with, and a referral onward if someone else would serve you better.
- Confidentiality, within the limits the law and professional ethics set, which I explain before we begin.
- Sessions in English or Dutch, or a mix, as suits you.
If that sounds like the kind of help you are looking for, join the waitlist. You can also read answers to common questions first.
In person in Beeston, Nottingham. Online across the UK.