The Self Space Avis 43

It took me far longer than it should have to speak to someone.

I’ve always considered myself a “just get on with it” type of man. I saw talking about how I felt as a weakness. Work (amongst other things) eventually broke me, and I realised bottling everything up wasn’t strength it was avoidance.

Lisa gave me the space to vent, to untangle what I was feeling, and to actually understand my emotions rather than suppress them. SelfSpace made the whole process feel accessible and normal not clinical or intimidating.

I’ve come on leaps and bounds. I’m calmer, more measured, and genuinely more positive.

If you’re a man reading this and thinking you should just “handle it yourself” that’s exactly what I thought too. Talking isn’t weakness. It’s responsibility.

Break the stigma.

I've been using self space on and off for a couple of years and its been life changing. I was matched to a therapist who has been perfect for me and I really look forward to the sessions.

Communication is fab, I receive a text and an email reminder from self space with links for the call well before the session. I was initially nervous about doing it online but its very relaxed, and having your own account with a booking system is great. Everything runs smoothly and I wouldn't look for support anywhere else.

Booked an online appointment with a therapist who never showed up. I emailed them 3 times and called twice before someone got back to me. I then moved the appointment to another therapist on the same day, who then emailed me to say she couldn't make it as there was a problem with the calendar and she had a personal commitment.

It took a lot for me to take the step of therapy, and I love the idea of Self Space, but more care needs to be given around bookings and how seriously therapists take it. It's not the same as booking a hair appointment, it's something i prepared for, took time out of my day for after months of amping up to it. I'm so disappointed.

Impossible to sign up. Keep getting an error, and it deletes the whole form which takes 5 minutes to fill out. Terrible UX.

Customer service that’s fast, attentive, and highly responsive.

Self Space is pioneering in its approach to mental health, making it fit for the modern age. Its no-fuss around therapy and making it fully accessible sets a new standard. Professional, beautifully designed, and super accessible, I fully recommend.

I honestly feel much calmer and more relieved after 12 sessions with Mark Dalby at Self Space. I was really upset leaving my last role while transitioning into a doctoral programme. Soho is a really nice space to chat where Mark helped me sort through some issues. I am much more relaxed, rested and focused on the way forward. This is great therapy, thank you, especially to NABS from the advertising industry.

Self Space makes booking and accessing therapy straightforward, which I really value. I’ve been seeing Claudia through them and highly recommend her — she’s calm, perceptive, and easy to talk to. Our sessions have been consistently supportive and useful.

Self Space makes therapy incredibly accessible. Understanding the myriad of techniques and personal styles can be daunting but they are incredibly helpful in matching you with the right person. I have been going to Self Space for many years and while its a drop in model their approachability has resulted in my longest relationship with a therapist to date. I see Jodie, one of the founders, who has been transformational to my wellbeing. Importantly, as life-stage needs change, Jodie has always encouraged me to explore other modes of therapy and healing that resonate, alongside our ongoing work together. This open minded approach of working with people makes a real difference.

Hands down the best therapy experience I’ve had. I've been going for over 7 years.

Self Space isn’t like the old-school, clinical setups. It’s warm, modern, and accessible.

They have really changed how I view my mental health and how I go about maintaining it.

Highly recommend.

Absolutely fantastic service from matching through to intro session, it was seamless and quick. I had a great first session with my therapist.

My first therapist I worked with for over 6 months and felt I was making some progress. I was informed they would be going away for a while - I asked for any recommendations for similar therapists and never heard back.

With my new therapist, I found it hard to build that trust again - especially with the thought in the back of my mind that they could leave.

I'd admittedly been vague in asking for a rescheduled appointment the day before a session - this was refused due to policy (understandable normally) I emailed my therapist a few days later to explain that a family member had passed away the day of my session. It was easy to read between the lines as to the reason.

My therapist didn't respond - not even to pass on any sympathy.

Obviously I've never booked a session again. It's been just over a year now and I still haven't heard anything. I was in a lot of distress at the time - it's surprising that I didn't even have a single check in as I'd presume some level of duty of care.

I've now been seeing a specialised OCD therapist outside of Self Space who, having given me completely opposite advice and treatment, has been really helping me.

If you're looking for a compassionate therapist, it can be hit and miss. On the whole I wouldn't be able to recommend Self Space.

I would be open to getting a refund for the refused rescheduling from last year. Please do get in touch.

If you’re looking for maintenance type therapy, someone to chat through life stuff with, then self space is an accessible way to do that. Their online system makes booking really easy, and I like their therapist matching tool. HOWEVER, if you have serious mental health problems, I would not recommend self space. I saw a therapist for around 6 months at self space, and she was great, but she left and the space didn’t communicate this with me until I turned up for a session and someone else had been allocated to me, who had a totally different therapy style and didn’t suit. I tried a a few other therapists, and again found none of them to be a good fit. The most alarming thing is that last year I was going through a serious mental breakdown, experiencing suicidal ideation, which resulted in me actually attempting suicide. Over the months leading up to this, I saw different self space therapists, sobbing throughout the sessions and openly telling them how I felt and the SI I was experiencing. I didn’t feel that any of them understood the severity of what was going on, with one therapist telling me verbatim “you’ll be fine”. I think self space can be a great tool for mental health maintenance, and I like the smooth accessible format it takes. But for serious mental health problems, steer clear.

EDIT: thank you for your response, I appreciate it. Unfortunately this just isn’t the experience I had - during this time period I saw 3 different therapists and was open with them all about what I was experiencing. None of them mentioned any sort of plan, or even encouraged me to book further sessions. Luckily, I’m still here due to being admitted to a facility by emergency services and making a steady recovery with the help of medication, but it’s a shame it got to that point. It really could have been a matter of life or death, and if I received more support from Self Space, it could have been a different story.

I had a really lovely experience with Sophia H as my therapist at Self Space. As a therapist myself, I know how hard it can be to find the right person. I found the variety of therapists you can choose from really helpful and booking was so easy/zero wait times (which is unheard of).
I found the idea of one off sessions/not talking about how many sessions we would do a little challenging as it felt quite ad-hoc. That being said, the work we did was amazing and I’m hugely thankful for the experience. I felt seen and heard and would definitely come back.

I find the platform to be extremely user friendly and I've been very lucky that I've also had chemistry with the therapist I selected and she has been really wonderful. I've also found the ability to book according to my needs and the flexibility of the set up itself very useful for my life and to get the most out of a therapist without the weekly commitment some people require.

Although the therapist herself was lovely, I think it is impossible to create a trusting therapeutic relationship when there is no therapeutic contract and sessions are very much seen as one-offs. Although I booked with the same person every week there was very little feeling of continuity between the sessions. No feeling that we were working toward anything. The problem is very much with the business model rather than the clinicians, it doesn't make sense and it's dangerous! I am also a therapist, I work for the NHS, and I found my self wondering how on earth they can conduct meaningful therapy with this model. To solve this you should be able to agree to a number of consecutive sessions and some sort of treatment plan with the clinician.

I found a great person to hold my hand through a transition and find a new landing place. I had not had therapy for a while. The website helped me find what I needed and the whole company feels like it’s focussed on making it all work for you. Brilliant.

My experience with this service was and is great. I am using self space virtual or online services since November 2024. It was easy to find a right therapist for me based on my needs. But I believe that good experience depends on the therapist that you work with. I was able to find a therapist who specializes in a very specific areas and problems that I have such as neurodiversity, disabilities, anxiety, she is professional, ethical, I enjoy sessions with her. It is easy to book and pay for the sessions, they send reminders which is convenient. But again I truly believe that my positive experience really depends on my therapist and it is very important to find a right specialist. I am glad that I was able to find her there.

I have seen 2 therapists from Self Space over the last 8 years and they have both been fantastic. Professional and friendly and conscientious about meeting my goals and ensuring that they are inclusive. I could not ask fr better.

I also love that unlike lots of therapy companies, you don't need to book a set of sessions at once, so I just book the next one as and when I feel

I have been using Self Space for about a year and am so impressed by the service.

I also greatly appreciate the keyworker discount available for sessions.

The therapist matching tool helped me find a suitable therapist with the specialisms which I needed (EMDR).

Sophia H is a wonderful therapist - the sessions feel supportive, collaborative and most of all, I feel seen and heard. She's professional, experienced and personable and I feel in incredibly safe hands.

Side note - I love their comms/tone of voice on Instagram!