About Only Connect 2
A Specialist Service for Students and Staff in Higher Education offering Counselling, Supervision and Training Services.
Sue Line
Sue Line is an accredited member of the BACP and completed her MSc in Counselling in 2003 at Birkbeck. Sue has extensive counselling experience in Higher Education. She joined the University of Westminster in 2008, working as a student counsellor in brief-term therapy. She has also supported numerous Higher Education staff at a number of external institutions. Qualified in supervision at the Society of Analytical Psychology, Sue also works as a supervisor for counsellors. She holds a diploma in online and email counselling and is trained to run sessions with clients via Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
In 2023 Sue set up an independent counselling service, Only Connect 2 which offers counselling support to students from nominated institutions and to staff in Higher Education. Only Connect 2 practises psychodynamic therapy, CBT and other therapeutic modalities.
Our Service
Only Connect 2 is contracted to work with external HE students and Sue & OC2 have also supported staff from HE institutions, including Birkbeck, Westminster, Institute of Education, Royal Veterinary College, SOAS, the Royal College of Music and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Only Connect 2 supports HE staff with various issues, from bullying, stress, depression, anxiety, and trauma. The team understands the constant change and transition and the challenges of working in an often under-resourced environment that the HE community faces - and can support any member of HE staff working in any institution across the U.K.
It's important for HE staff and students to have the space and the support to talk about their difficulties – it enables people to continue working whilst dealing with their difficulties. Counselling helps everyone improve and feel better about themselves and their work: there is so much potential for change and growth.
At Only Connect 2 we are proud to make a difference to people's lives. Only Connect 2 has access to independent counsellors who have a masters degree in counselling from Birkbeck. They are all accredited members of BACP with a vast experience of working with both students and staff in higher education over the past 15 years. They understand the specific challenges of constant transition, stress and anxiety, relationship difficulties and an increased workload and demands on their time.
Counsellors
Jim Spears
Following his first career in business, Jim retrained, undertaking an MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling at Birkbeck, qualifying in 2008. Since then, he has worked as a university counsellor and in private practice. Jim was also part of the original Only Connect team between 2008 to 2015.
He works on an exploratory basis, talking and trying to make sense of what is happening for his students and clients. He undertakes short- and longer-term work and describes his work as psychodynamically informed, trying to understand how family history, relationships and patterns can shape our behaviour in adult life.
Akiko Kobayashi
Akiko studied counselling at Birkbeck College and completed her MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling with Children and Adolescents in 2007. She is accredited by the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP).
She has worked with children, young people and adults referred by refugee support charities and schools since 2007. She supports people suffering from various issues, such as anxiety, depression, grief, traumatic memories, and study/and work-related difficulties. Akiko has also trained to use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (methods to alleviate symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
Rita Odumosu
Rita Odumosu is an accredited Psychodynamic Counsellor with previous teaching and educational advisory work streams. She underwent therapeutic training at the Minster Centre, then completed and graduated from the Birkbeck MSc Psychodynamic Counselling programme. She fully embeds psychoanalytic theory and principles within her developed clinical practice and consultancy work.
Rita works within schools, universities and community settings and has over two decades of experience supporting these groups. Working within Only Connect has produced tremendous opportunities to work and support students and staff from various institutions. Rita works hard to meet her clients needs and assisting them in moving on emotionally and practically.
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