Exploring Intercultural Relationships: Dr Reenee Singh’s Work at Hampstead Psychology
- Dr Jo Stuart
- Apr 29
- 3 min read
At Hampstead Psychology, we are fortunate to work with highly experienced clinicians who bring depth, specialist knowledge and thoughtful clinical expertise to the people and families we support. One of those clinicians is Dr Reenee Singh, a Consultant Family and Systemic Psychotherapist with particular expertise in intercultural couples, family relationships and the complex ways that culture, identity, belonging and difference can shape intimate relationships.
Dr Singh co-founded the London Intercultural Couples Centre at the Child and Family Practice in 2016. The Centre was created in response to the growing number of intercultural couples and mixed ethnicity households across England and Wales, and to the need for more specialist thinking in this area. According to the 2021 Census, 22.3 per cent of households in London include people from more than one ethnic group. Across England and Wales, multi-ethnic households increased by 25 per cent compared with the 2011 Census.
The London Intercultural Couples Centre was set up to offer intercultural couples and their families a place where their particular challenges could be understood, while also recognising their strengths, resilience and resources. Since its inception, the Centre has received around 1,000 referrals and has supported many couples through assessment and therapy, with approximately 200 couples successfully completing therapy with positive outcomes.
This experience is highly relevant to Dr Singh’s work at Hampstead Psychology. Many of the clients we see are navigating complex lives, identities and relationships. Some couples are working across differences in nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, class, political values or generational expectations. Others may not describe themselves as intercultural, but still find that their relationship is shaped by differences in family background, emotional culture, expectations, values or ways of communicating.
In this sense, as Dr Singh’s work highlights, all couples are intercultural at some level. Every couple brings together two different histories, two different family systems and two different ways of making sense of the world. For some couples, those differences become more visible during important life transitions, such as getting married, having a child, managing relationships with in-laws, deciding where to live, navigating faith and religious rituals, or planning for later life.
At Hampstead Psychology, Dr Singh brings this specialist understanding into her work with our diverse clients. Her approach helps couples and families think carefully about the patterns, meanings and pressures that sit beneath conflict or disconnection. This can be especially important where difficulties are not simply about communication, but about identity, belonging, loyalty, racism, cultural expectations, family roles, parenting, religion, social class or intergenerational difference.
Alongside her clinical work, Dr Singh has contributed significantly to the wider field. Over the past decade, the London Intercultural Couples Centre has offered group therapy, carried out multi-site research, and contributed to books, articles and conference presentations. This means that Dr Singh brings not only many years of direct therapeutic experience, but also a strong commitment to developing knowledge and practice in this important area of relational work.
We are delighted to have Dr Reenee Singh working with Hampstead Psychology. Her expertise strengthens the breadth of our couples and family therapy provision and supports our commitment to offering thoughtful, specialist, evidence-informed psychological care to clients from a wide range of backgrounds.
The London Intercultural Couples Centre will be marking its anniversary on 14 May, with an opportunity to reflect on its achievements and share future plans. Those who would like to attend can register here:
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