Ryan Campinho Valadas

Therapist, Educator & Trainer

Ryan has always followed a path of wanting to understand and support people as best as he could and was driven by curiosity, passion, and creativity. This led to a Joint Honours Degree in Politics and Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow in 2006, and it was alongside this dynamic degree that the seeds for a future career as a psychotherapist and public speaker would be planted.
 
Working at a Scottish national charity to develop a project for the International Day Against Homophobia, Ryan engaged with groups of young people to create pieces of Forum Theatre (a type of socio-political theatre involving audience participation) which reflected their lived experiences as young LGBT people in Scotland. These pieces of theatre were performed and presented at conferences and events across Glasgow and Edinburgh between 2007-2010.
 
Informed by these opportunities, Ryan pursued a MA in Dramatherapy at the University of Roehampton which was completed in 2015. During these years, his work revolved around delivering individual and group therapy sessions, as well as conducting research on intimacy in interpersonal relationships of gay men living with HIV. He was a Visiting Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and University of Derby on the subjects of addiction and LGBT-affirmative therapy between 2017-2020.
 
Throughout his clinical career, Ryan was drawn to challenges around shame, sex, communication, and relationships, and this led to his training in Psychosexual & Relationships Therapy between 2021-2023.
 
Between 2020-2026, Ryan helped to establish, develop, and grow a highly successful training department in a contemporary mental health company, which offered bespoke workshops, training, and leadership programmes to organisations around the world. He was responsible for the research, development, facilitation, and management of programmes and partnerships.
 
Today, Ryan maintains a busy private practice focusing on psychosexual and relationships therapy within the queer community in central London; teaches on a Masters level diploma in pluralistic and psychosexual therapy; and continues to work within organisational wellbeing with partners based around the world.