Effective Psychology

EFFECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Psychotherapeutic Services

Support for you, your life & your relationships

Dr Hester Bancroft

BSc (Hons) Psych, DCPsych, C.Psychol

Lead Psychologist at Effective Psychology

Effective Psychology is led by Dr Hester Bancroft, a Chartered Psychologist with over 19 years’ experience working with adults, children and families. Our carefully selected team share the same approach: thoughtful, professional, and genuinely invested in the people the work with.

We are a specialist psychology practice based in Marlow, offering thoughtful, evidence-based support in a warm and down-to-earth way.

Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, low mood, relationship difficulties, parenting challenges, or simply feeling unlike yourself, we’ll work with you to understand what’s happening and what will help.

Our aim is simple: to help you feel clearer, steadier, and more able to cope—both now and in the long term.

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Adults

There could be many reasons why you are seeking therapy; you may be going through an important transition in your life as a result of divorce, career change or bereavement, or you may be struggling to deal with a particular issue from your past. It may simply be that you would like a better understanding of yourself and how you relate to others.

Whatever you need support with, our aim at the practice is to help you establish more positive ways of living your life. We provide a safe, supportive and confidential environment for you to explore the underlying causes of existing unhelpful behaviours, establish empowering new behaviours and set attainable and sustainable goals for the future.

We offer short-term or long-term support depending on your needs.

The whole team work integratively, which means that we are not bound to working within only one theoretical tradition and can tailor our support to fit your specific needs. We work psychodynamically, which allows exploration of your history and your deeper self, including aspects which may not be wholly conscious to you. We also have significant experience of using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques, which provide clear tools for changing specific, unhelpful behaviours.

Parenting & Children

We are passionate about supporting families (both parents and children). We have supported thousands of parents through the talks and workshops we have delivered in schools throughout the South East of England (for the full list of the schools we have worked with, see the 'Support for Schools' section of this website). We also deliver teacher training and have worked directly with hundreds of parents in our practice.

As a parent, you may be struggling to know how to support your child. You may want to know how to help them manage their emotions, build stronger friendships or have strategies to help manage challenging behaviour.

Whatever issues you are facing, being able to sit and talk through what is happening and have the space to explore new ways of supporting your child can be a huge relief. We will give you very specific strategies and techniques to help you make positive changes within your family. Our central aim is to help to make life easier - and more fun! - for the whole family.

We also work directly with children and adolescents who are in need support. We provide them with a safe and supportive place to work through any challenges they are facing. Alongside working on whatever issue has brought them to therapy, we also work on increasing their self-awareness, boosting their self-esteem and helping them to become more resilient going forward.