"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold & expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us & come to life." - Brenda Ueland
Leading thought is the Practice of
Dr Karen Gubb
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Clinical Psychologist and Business Coach​
Ph.D Psychology (WITS) : M.A. Clin Psych (WITS)
Professional Certified Coach (International Coach Federation)
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Meet Karen
Clinical Psychologist and Business Coach
Karen bridges two worlds: the analytical rigour of clinical psychology and the depth of corporate coaching. After starting her career as a management consultant, she discovered her real passion—working one-on-one with people to understand what makes them tick.
Today she combines clinical psychotherapy with executive coaching, drawing on a PhD focused on the mind-body connection and how psychological stress shows up physically.
Credentials: Registered with the HCPC and British Psychological Society. She runs a private practice in Windlesham, Surrey, and leads the DBT programme at a Surrey psychiatric hospital.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy—sometimes called talking therapy—uses psychological methods to help you understand yourself more deeply, shift unhelpful patterns, and work through what's holding you back.
Karen works primarily within a psychoanalytic framework, using psychodynamic techniques to help clients explore the roots of their difficulties. She sees people navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, bereavement, emotional dysregulation, and personality difficulties, across both short- and long-term work.
A particular focus of Karen's practice is the mind-body connection—helping clients recognise how psychological experiences manifest physically, and working with that relationship as part of the therapeutic process.
Karen has led a DBT programme for several years, bringing extensive experience in this evidence-based approach to emotional regulation.
Much like piecing together a complex puzzle, Karen works collaboratively with clients to uncover and make sense of what lies beneath the surface.
Karen works with most major health insurance providers
Business Coaching
The demands on today's leaders are greater than ever—more responsibilities, higher expectations, and less time to adapt. What sets exceptional individuals and organisations apart is the ability to grow deliberately.
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Coaching works through a relationship built on trust and genuine thinking partnership. Together, Karen and her clients surface values, strengths and goals—then use those as a compass for clearer thinking, better decisions and more purposeful action. The result: stronger leadership, sharper performance and lasting well-being.
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Karen holds a Professional Certified Coach credential from the International Coaching Federation, backed by her years as a corporate consultant and her deep expertise in clinical psychology—a combination that brings both strategic and psychological insight to every session.
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She works with individuals navigating transitions and those looking to raise their performance, refine their leadership, or simply lead a more satisfying life.
Testmionials
"Karen created a safe environment for me to discuss my personal experiences and to explore new ways of dealing with my work challenges. Our sessions provided me with new tools and insights on how to approach difficult issues in the workplace in order to extract the best solution. I have thoroughly enjoyed the (at times uncomfortable) learning experience. Karen’s input was thought provoking, practical and worthwhile."
- Business Coaching Client
"It is not until someone asks you questions allowing you to reflect and do a lot of introspection , that you realise you have been in your comfort zone. Through the guidance and some situational tools I got from Karen, I am growing with every situation I once considered uncomfortable."
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- Psychotherapy Client
" For the first time in my adult career I felt clear around what I should be doing with my career right now and going forward. Karen helped me greatly in being able to articulate my strengths, achievements and personality traits. Coaching with Karen afforded me time for myself to focus on my needs and identify where I see myself going in the future ."
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- Business Coaching Client
Publications
Karen has presented at a number of Local and international conferences and has published a range of papers;
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Karen was invited by her Ph.D examiners to present a clinical paper at the American Psychoanalytic Association Winter Meeting in New York in 2016.
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Craving Interpretation: A Case of Somatic Countertransference. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 2014
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Re-embodying the Analyst. Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa. 2013
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Psychosomatics Today: A Review of Contemporary Theory and Practice. Psychoanalytic Review 2013
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The Sense of Bodily Symptoms. Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa. 2010
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Reflections on Society as Borderline Mother. Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa. 2010
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Clinical Vampirism: Review and Illustrative Case Report. Authors: K Gubb, J Segal, A Khota, A Dicks. South African Psychiatry Review. 2005
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Ph.D Thesis: Minding the Body: Questions of Embodiment and the Practice of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
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Karen collaborated with a group of psychologists who worked pro bono with the families of the Esidemeni victims. These victims were a group of psychiatric patients who died following an ill-fated and poorly planned removal by the government. The group created a report of the impact of the tragedy which was testified to at an arbitration. The outcome of the arbitration was that constitutional damages were awarded to the families of the victims. This was unprecedented in South African law. Following the arbitration, Karen and a colleague arranged a memorial service and a 3 day conference at which the events could be digested and thought about. She presented a paper entitled: “It was sickening: The somatic impact of being close to the Esidemeni trauma”.​
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