About Me

IFS Therapist, Coach & Facilitator

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Portrait of Ben Donaldson — IFS Therapist and Organisational Consultant

"The most effective therapy I’ve tried. Ben’s clear, insightful guidance was outstanding."

— Bassam

Who I Am

Shaped by many worlds

For most of my adult life, I've lived nomadically across Asia, Europe, and South America, including two years in Turkey, and the last several years in France.

This experience cultivated a deep respect for human diversity and the different ways people make sense of their inner worlds. It also gave me a lived understanding of the emotional landscape many expats, travellers, and cross-cultural individuals navigate daily.

Moving between cultures taught me how complex, beautiful, and disorienting life abroad can be — how loneliness, uncertainty, and inner conflict often sit right alongside curiosity, growth, and possibility.

Experience

Human Development

Before training as a therapist, my professional life spanned teaching, coaching, facilitation, and leadership. My varied career has seen me:

  • Designing and implementing processes for conflict resolution
  • Facilitating multi-hour mediations
  • Contributing to safety, welfare, and crisis response teams

I've worked as an independent freelancer, in tech startups, multinational organisations, and founded my own business.

Inner Life

Inner Work

My outer journey has been accompanied by an (ongoing!) journey of inner work. This includes thousands of hours spent on silent meditation retreats.

I've also participated in indigenous cultural rituals, including South American plant-medicine ceremonies — inspiring, in part, my interest in the psychotherapeutic benefit of altered states.

In addition, I am engaged with several spiritual traditions, notably Buddhism, Sufism, and European folk mysticism. Other influences include Authentic Relating and Men's Work, workshops in which I've also facilitated. I am sex-positive, LGBTQIA+, open to all races and cultures.

How I Work

My Approach

My work is grounded in Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a primary modality, informed by somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, trauma-sensitive practice, and contemplative insight.

Rather than viewing difficulties as flaws or disorders to be corrected, IFS understands the inner world as a system of parts — each with its own perspective, fear, and purpose. By relating to those parts with curiosity and compassion, rather than attempting to suppress or override them, lasting change becomes possible.

This approach is non-pathologising, evidence-based, and well-suited to the kinds of challenges many people carry: perfectionism, burnout, chronic anxiety, shame, inner criticism, and the weight of unprocessed experience.

Learn more about IFS

Ready to begin?

A free introductory call is a no-commitment way to get a feel for the work, ask questions, and see if this approach is the right fit.

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