Meet Holt
One of the most crucial parts of choosing your therapist is making sure they are someone you can see yourself working with. You should know with confidence that if you’re feeling down, anxious, distressed, or vulnerable, that you’ll be with someone you trust to facilitate and work alongside you in addressing those feelings. With that in mind, I’d like to give you to get to know more about my experience, my interests and a little about my personal story through the profile on this page before we explore working together.
A Brief Personal History
As a Californian who emigrated to Scotland at the age of 17, My personal history is a little bit complicated. I’ll try to focus on what brings you here in the first place: who I am, and what that has to do with being a psychotherapist.
I have always been a person curious about others, and valued difference in approaches to the world. I left my birth country as soon as I could because I was fed up with close-minded attitudes, and dreadful social fixity that manifested in others stating there was ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways of being. When I arrived in Scotland, I got more than I could have bargained for. I discovered more differences and nuances between peoples and cultures than I thought possible. With it came the joy of being able to share and celebrate those differences.
I came to Edinburgh to study because I wanted to write fiction – and every person’s life was a narrative that I wanted to hear. Though this empathic curiosity was always present, I never through then my craft might be one of listening and hearing other’s stories. The fact that I now have the privilege of offering my presence, care and support when one’s current chapter looks darkest is something that still feels an immense privilege.
What precipitated my becoming a psychotherapist was an existential questioning. I was a young man just out of university, where I had found myself in a telesales career that offered little more in value than a paycheck and a bonus scheme. While that is enough for many people, after continuing in this role for a few years, I found myself constantly left wondering: ‘Is this it? Is this all I can offer to others? Is this my life’s work – making income for a corporation not even our clients know the name of?’
The questions might sound bleak, but working with them led me to action and realisation. I did not want to simply do something, but rather to be someone, and to be in a way that aligned with belief and action. I resolved to find a way of using my passion and skill for communication and relationship-building in a manner that would meaningfully help others find purpose and insight through adversity (instead of using it to acquire credit card details).
Becoming a Psychotherapist
I began training to become a psychotherapist at the University of Edinburgh and, in 2016, I began in psychotherapeutic practice. As a psychotherapist, I have been incredibly privileged to be a part of so many people’s journeys towards self-actualisation and making meaning of their lives, and I hope I will always be able to offer myself and participate in others’ process of growth.
Beginning in psychotherapeutic practice was just the beginning of my involvement in my craft, however. I undertook rigorous study to achieve a Doctorate in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Edinburgh, demonstrating my commitment to understanding the complexity of the psychotherapeutic field and taking a role in furthering it. My doctoral research focused on traditional games and the therapeutic potential of game-play for adults was published as my doctoral thesis entitled, “Cardstock and Containment: Exploring Therapeutic Affect in Magic: the Gathering for Adults”. Independent research is a passion I still engage with alongside my clinical work; I enjoy exploring psychotherapeutic theory and practice in my writing as well as wondering about the practice of qualitative inquiry more broadly. My extensive clinical and academic experience earned me a teaching fellowship in the Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Sciences subject area at University of Edinburgh in 2022, through which I provided training and research supervision to counsellors and psychotherapists newly developing in the field, as well as oversaw the DPsychotherapy degree programmme. If you would like to know more about my published work, you are welcome to find out more on my publications page.
Since departing from the University in late 2025, I have now stepped into working with organisations to improve the mental health and well-being of people as they engage with the world of work. If it isn’t clear from my own journey to find craft, I believe the creative act of working is an important cornerstone to many peoples lives. This is how I approached my work as an educator, a professional trainer at the University of Edinburgh, and as part of the management team of Hope Park Counselling Centre. I feel delighted now to have the opportunity to continue this work in the wider sphere of business. It is a privilege to offer the ideas and learning about people and relationships that I’ve cultivated through study and practice to the wider public to help people get the most from their work and the essential relationships they form through them.
Hobbies and Personal Life
Outside of my professional work, it may come as no surprise given my research that I have a great love for games of all shapes and sizes. I am the current reigning Scottish national champion in the collectible card game Magic: the Gathering, enjoy writing for, running and playing in table-top roleplaying game groups, am (slowly) developing as a tennis player, and have an ever growing collection of video and traditional games on my list to explore and play with others. My joy in playing games is likely no surprise given my profession; notable psychotherapist and theorist D.W. Winnicott famously stated that, “Psychotherapy has to do with two people playing together. The corollary of this is that where playing is not possible then the work done by the therapist is directed towards bringing the patient from a state of not being able to play into a state of being able to play.” In this sense, play is not something I engage with solely in the therapy room, but in all aspects of life – it is the way I am, not a collection of things I do.
When I’m not working with clients or playing games, I enjoy spending time with my partner, and my cat (called Dr. Spaghetti), indulging in rich food and drink, reading Westerns, writing academically and creatively for publication, playing music with friends, and learning about cinema where I can (with an awareness of how little I’ve seen in the first place!).
Working on your mental health can be a complicated thing to start on – and I understand that you might have plenty of questions on what it might be like to work with me. Feel free to visit the What is Psychotherapy section if you have general questions about the intervention I use. If you would like to find out more of the particulars and fine-print on how our work together would be, feel free to refer to the How I Work page. Or, if you feel you’re ready to get started on your therapeutic work, head over to Booking an Appointment, fill in the form there with your contact details, and I will reach out to arrange a free consultation as soon as possible.