Nick Mercer is an experienced psychoanalytic psychotherapist and addictions counsellor who has written, managed and established total abstinence programmes in a wide variety of locations.

His mission is to extend to clients the same opportunities for spiritual and personal growth that were extended to him.

“When I was 37 years old I reached university via an access course and gained a BA and an MA in English. After a number of years working in harm minimisation for Turning Point, Addaction, Richmond Fellowship and the Blenheim Project, I completed my counsellor training and spent the next 7 years working in prisons for RAPt. As a manager I customised and delivered the first 12 step programme for young offenders in Reading and Aylesbury prisons.

“In 2005, I helped deliver the first easy-access non-residential 12-step programme in Liverpool (SHARP) and went on to manage SHARP London. In 2007, I worked on a similiar programme in Oldham incorporating all that we’d learned previously re the efficacy of recovery communities. I then returned to RAPt as a treatment consultant for HMP Everthorpe and led the clinical team in the successful establishment of the HART day programme in Hull.

“I have a small practice in London where I see individual clients. My interest is in providing short, flexible programmes that encourage change in a safe and containing manner. I am convinced that, to do this successfully and ethically, we as practitioners must be prepared to engage in a parallel process.”