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Published
7 March 2025

Tower Hamlets Therapist Speaks to Healthcare Magazine about Journey

A counsellor based in Tower Hamlets has been interviewed by leading psychotherapy magazine Therapy Today about her experiences in the NHS.
Photo of Imtaz Khaliq.

Imtaz Khaliq works as a Counsellor at the Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies service. She spoke about her day-to-day job and skills developed over time, along with her journey to-date and advice for those hoping to join the profession.

“Group support and psychoeducation can help you see you are not alone. Collective rather than individualistic strategies out of illness are needed to create equity, giving people what they need, when they need it. Humans need connection,” said Imtaz during her interview.

Imtaz has worked as a Counsellor with Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies since August 2024, after becoming a Peer Tutor Lead in the Tower Hamlets Recovery College in 2019. Outside of the NHS, she lectures on counselling for psychology undergraduates at the University of Westminster.

In September 2022, she started working as a Lead Counsellor for ERA, a collaborative study between academic institutions, NHS trusts, service users and commissioners. Its aim is to compare group arts therapies with talking therapy, to decide whether the former is effective for people with different types of mental illness.

Therapy Today is the leading specialist magazine for counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK, and is mailed to over 70,000 individuals and organisations. It is run by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), a professional body that oversees ethical principles, values and good practice across the field.

Members of the BACP can read the interview in the publication’s March edition online.

For those who aren’t members, we have been given permission to share the PDF link on our website.

If you would like to provide feedback about the piece, you can email therapytoday@thinkpublishing.co.uk, so this can be published on its letters page.

© This article was first published in Therapy Today, the journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).


Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies is a free, confidential service for residents in the local authority. Trained mental health professionals help to identify troubling thoughts and emotions through tailored sessions with those looking to improve their mental health.

The service has an online self-referral form, enabling staff members to schedule an appointment. Alternatively, the community can call 0208 175 1770 from 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

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Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies

Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies is a service that provides psychological treatments for mental and emotional problems like stress, anxiety and depression. We serve residents of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London.