About me
I am a Senior Accredited counsellor, psychotherapist, supervisor and counselling trainer with over 20 years of experience in the counselling and psychotherapy professions, offering an in person, trauma informed space, to adults looking to explore their concerns.
Counselling and Psychotherapy can be helpful at many times in our lives, whether we are dealing with major life changes, feeling mentally or emotionally unwell, struggling with aspects of our personality, work or relationships or just feeling dissatisfied with life and ourselves. As a therapist I am trained to listen empathically and non-judgmentally and to assist you in finding the answers and solutions to whatever is troubling you within a confidential and ethical setting.
Counselling and psychotherapy can also be used to help us to gain understanding of who we are, why we feel as we do and to develop more fully into the person we have the potential to be and does not just have to be for the times we are struggling in life. Therapy can help people understand themselves, and to begin to realise their hopes and their dreams, and in so doing, begin to know themselves along with their strengths and their weaknesses, and recognise how they can move forwards, finding a place of peace and acceptance within.
Alongside my original training I have undertaken considerable ongoing professional development gaining skills and knowledge in many different areas, including trauma and PTSD, working with victims of domestic, sexual and narcissistic abuse, working with eating disorders, understanding disorganized/traumatic attachment and working with boarding school survivors . I am also CRUSE bereavement trained. As a result I am able to include other ways of working and adapt the work to what is most appropriate for each individual client and their particular issues.
I originally trained in person centred therapy, followed by training in an integrative model which focused on the therapeutic relationship and brought together a number of different theoretical approaches, allowing me to adapt to each clients particular needs. However, the work I do emphasises the therapeutic relationship and puts the client at the centre of the process, recognising they are the expert on themselves and empowering them to find their own answers.
Prior to, and alongside my counselling training I have studied astrology and alternative healing and spirituality, specifically shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism. I am able to integrate the understanding gained from these disciplines into the work we undertake if appropriate.
I work both long and short term with clients.
Sessions are one hour long and weekly. Clients are asked to agree to a minimum of six sessions initially. I only offer face to face/in the room counselling and psychotherapy in my therapy room in Glastonbury. This allows me to provide a safe space, with minimum disruption and allows clients to 'leave behind' whatever they have spoken about in therapy, knowing it will be held in confidence until we next meet.
I offer an initial session of 45 minutes free of charge. This is an opportunity for us to meet and to see whether we are a good fit - that you feel comfortable with me and the surroundings, and that I feel I am able to offer you what you are looking for at this time. Before we meet, I will send out paperwork, including contracts, which will give you time to read through and think about whether you have any questions you may want to ask me when we do meet, which I will be more than happy to answer. I encourage clients to be open and honest in this initial session as it will give us both a much clearer sense of our suitability to work together as it’s the relationship formed between therapist and client which is shown by all the research to be the most important factor in successful outcomes.
Once the initial assessment session has taken place, we will arrange a regular time for you to attend therapy, which will be the same time every week and sessions will last one hour.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have considerable training and experience in a number of areas including the following along with a number of qualifications including: Senior Accreditation with the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy) 2017 and SCoPEd alignment to Column C 2025*. Membership of UKRCP (United Kingdom Register of Counsellors & Psychotherapists, accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health & Social Care), MSc Counselling (University of Bristol), Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling (University of Bristol), Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (Strode College) Level 2&3 Certificates in Counselling (Strode College), Certificate in Education (Strode College). BA (Hons) in Economic and Social History (University of Hull), one year training with Babette Rothschild in Somatic Therapy, working with PTSD & Trauma.
I have over 20 years of experience in private practice along with experience of working in a GP Practice with a wide variety of presenting issues, in an agency working with eating disorders, and as a student counsellor in an FE College. I am CRUSE bereavement trained. My training of two Diplomas and an MSc took six years in total.
I have worked as a counselling lecturer, assessor and trainer in FE, HE and private organisational settings, delivering all areas of training but specialising in personal development, professional practice, research, mental health, trauma and spiritual crisis.
I worked for one of the principal awarding bodies of counselling qualifications as both an assessor and a qualifying qualification lead, and have worked in Professional Standards in the leading professional body for counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK, the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Along with colleagues, I have written and had published a book for counsellors in training (A Student's Guide to Therapeutic Counselling' published by Sage) and have had a number of articles published.
Continuing professional development has been considerable, including training in working with victims of domestic abuse and coercive control, working with PTSD and trauma, working with victims of sexual abuse, working with boarding school survivors, working with victims of narcissistic abuse, and traumatic attachment.
I have attended many conferences and keep up to date with developments in the profession and continue to research and write.
*https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/advancing-the-profession/scoped/scoped-framework/
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Spiritual Crisis. Impact of Boarding School. The menopause and women's issues. Environmental anxiety.
Fees
£65.00 per session
Additional information
If you and I have worked together previously, and you are requiring support now but cannot afford my current fees, please do contact me to discuss. I always try to accommodate ex clients to the best of my ability.
I have two low cost places available for those working with NGO’s in areas of crisis or those working with refugees and asylum seekers.
When I work
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Further information
For further information on what to expect from counselling, check out the information on the web page link below, published by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, the largest professional body for counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK. It gives clear guidelines on what we should all expect from any therapist we see, particularly those therapists who are members of the BACP. All professional bodies have a complaints procedure, and their members are obliged to work to the ethical guidelines published by their professional body.
https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-therapy/what-is-counselling/
Here is the BACP Ethical Framework which all therapists registered with the BACP have to abide by: https://www.bacp.co.uk/media/19248/bacp-ethical-framework-for-the-counselling-professions-2018.doc
