Porn Recovery UK
Therapy for compulsive sexual behaviour – Bristol (BS1) and online
This page explains how I work and how I developed a unique, effective approach to recovering from compulsive sexual behaviours, including issues with porn, cam girls, and AI sex chat. I was one of the first therapists in the UK to specialise in work around compulsive sexual behaviour, then often referred to as porn addiction or sex addiction.
Over more than 20 years I have worked extensively with men and couples affected by these issues. I have also consulted for production companies and organisations seeking informed, clinically grounded perspectives on compulsive sexual behaviour and its impact.
The underlying distress
While terminology has evolved, the underlying distress remains consistent: secrecy, escalation, shame, fractured trust and the sense that something once chosen has become something difficult to control.
Porn Recovery UK grew from this long-standing body of work. What began as a specialist project with other colleagues now sits fully integrated within my own wider individual and couples psychotherapy practice.
What we will actually work with
This work goes well beyond a surface-level behavioural programme.
We explore:
- the function porn or sexual acting out serves
- emotional regulation and stress responses
- shame and identity
- escalation patterns
- attachment history
- relationship impact
- neurodivergence where relevant
- the meaning of secrecy.
Some people strongly identify with the language of sex addiction. Others prefer compulsive sexual behaviour. I work comfortably with both framings. The terminology matters less than whether the behaviour feels repetitive, secretive and increasingly outside your control.
Getting started
The process begins with a one-to-one assessment session, usually online.
Before we meet, I will ask you to complete a brief preparatory reflection. This work requires honesty and a willingness to examine yourself carefully. You do not need to be certain you can change, but you do need to be serious about exploring whether you want to.
The first session is focused and direct. By the end of it, you will have greater clarity about your relationship with porn or sexual acting out and whether this model is right for you.
If we both agree to proceed, we begin the structured programme.
A structured and sustained approach
In the early years of working in this field, I became increasingly aware that conventional weekly therapy did not always provide the right structure for meaningful recovery. Nor was it financially realistic for many people over the length of time real change requires.
The model I developed was originally called REWIND, reflecting the idea of returning to a time before addiction. More than twenty years ago, that was a meaningful possibility: someone in their thirties could still remember a pre-internet era. As pornography became ever-present, that reference point gradually disappeared, and the name REWIND no longer fitted.
Combining clinical depth with practical sustainability, the work is now called STRiDE Recovery (Stability, Transparency, Repair, Integration, Development, Endurance). It focuses on steady progress, resilience and long-term change rather than a return to the past. STRiDE Recovery reflects both clinical depth and practical sustainability.
The structure is:
• one 50-minute session per month
• daily check-ins via messaging
• gradual reduction of check-ins over time
• minimum commitment of 12 months.
Some people continue for 24 months or longer if purpose has been found in their extension to the work.
The monthly session allows for depth, psychological understanding and relational work. The daily check-ins create continuity, accountability and an ongoing therapeutic thread. This structure is deliberate.
Structure and historical roots
In the early development of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, sessions were often conducted several times a week. The sustained contact was not incidental — it was considered essential to meaningful psychological change.
STRiDE recovery is informed by that history.
I wanted to preserve something of the continuity and psychological holding offered by frequent therapeutic contact, without the prohibitive financial burden of multiple weekly sessions. The monthly session combined with structured daily check-ins is a contemporary adaptation of those early depth principles — grounded in psychodynamic thinking, informed by attachment theory and neurobiology, and shaped for modern life.
Commitment and cost
The fee is £80 per monthly session.
£960 across a full year (12 months).
The model is designed to make sustained work accessible. It only works if you engage consistently with the between-session structure.
I do not dilute the framework by offering this as weekly or ad hoc work. Its integrity is part of its effectiveness.
Information for partners
Compulsive sexual behaviour rarely affects only one person.
Partners often experience shock, confusion, anger, self-doubt and deep erosion of trust. Many describe feeling destabilised or questioning their own reality.
Partners of people with compulsive sexual behaviours often come to see me on their own. Sometimes they hope that attending may encourage their partner to seek help. More often they want a space to process the impact of the behaviour with a therapist who understands these issues in depth and can support them from knowledge and with understanding.
Online and in person
Sessions are usually online via platforms like Zoom or FaceTime, allowing individuals and couples across the UK and internationally to access my experience. In-person sessions in Bristol, BS1 may be available.
Because senior male therapists with long-standing specialisation in compulsive sexual behaviour remain relatively rare in the UK, online work has become a practical way to access focused expertise.
Is this approach right for you?
This model suits people who:
- Are prepared for sustained work
- Are willing to be accountable
- Understand that recovery is a process, not a quick intervention
- Can tolerate psychological depth
It is not a crisis stabilisation service or a short-term fix.
If this structure sounds appropriate, you are welcome to make contact. You may wish to check my current availability on the home page for likely start dates.
Therapy Place Bristol
Online and in room counselling, psychotherapy and sex therapy for men, women, couples and people with ADHD
