This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello and welcome to my page!
I'm Alex, a psychological therapist and antenatal, birth and postnatal doula. I have over 10 years experience working in NHS hospital and community settings as a mental health nurse and in more recent years practicing CBT as a BABCP accredited therapist. I have primarily spent this time working with unusual experiences, beliefs and suspicious thinking, commonly labelled as psychosis, and also bipolar affective disorder. I have also worked a lot with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, problems around sleep including nightmares, phobias, health anxiety and worry, and symptoms sometimes associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (intrusive imagery/thoughts, repetitive and overwhelming behaviours).
I am trained in trauma-focused CBT and support people to process trauma memories through reliving and re-scripting. This often involves nervous system regulation work (sometimes called 'stabilisation') which includes mindfulness-based practises that are transferable to the treatment of many mental health struggles.
My passion is birth and supporting women and babies to have the most gentle and respectful start to life and their attachment relationship. I trained as a doula in 2024 and support people through pregnancy in preparing for birth, during labour and birth itself, and into the postnatal period. I support people to process the birth of their child through reflection sessions, often called debriefs within the NHS, and am also able to offer a trauma-focused approach where this is needed after birth. Birth trauma has a very particular nature to it, owing to the conflicting experiences of trauma alongside the wonder of new life - the complicated way in which gratitude is often experienced at the same time as uncomfortable feelings of anger or shame. Holding caring and supportive space at this time requires depth of compassion and an understanding of childbirth and the healthcare system that surrounds it.
There is an expression, that if we heal birth we can heal earth; I am a strong advocate for and a firm believer in the power of listening and empathy in the face of pain and suffering. Curiosity and compassion are natural traits I carry and are threaded through my work. If you would like to find out more, either as someone going through a phase of their life around childbirth, someone who has witnessed a difficult event including the birth of their child, are having unusual experiences that you or others have difficulty in understanding, or another difficulty that needs space to be seen and supported through, I would love to chat. I offer a free 20 minute consultation to see if I am the right fit for you and if I have what is needed to support you.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Full spectrum doula training - The Original Birth Connection, November 2023-June 2024
- BABCP accredited CBT therapist - Postgraduate diploma from the University of Southampton, 2021
- NMC registered Mental Health Nurse
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.
The BABCP is the lead organisation for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the UK. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the practice, theory or development of CBT. BABCP also provides accreditation for CBT therapists. BABCP accredited members adhere to the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics in the Practice of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, and are willing to be scrutinised in this adherence as required.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£60.00 per session
Additional information
If you have any specific questions please don't hesitate to ask.
When I work
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