About me
Hello. I’m Annie, a psychologist specialising in integrative therapy, an existentially-minded cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and supervisor.
I work with adults (18+) on an individual basis. You may be dissatisfied with your life in some way and be seeking to address stuckness or regain your appetite for life, inspiration, creativity or sense of purpose. You may be suffering from stress, anxiety, shame, low self-esteem, intrusive thoughts or rumination, sadness, isolation, depression or feeling haunted by problems from your past experiences. Or you may be experiencing all these challenges to some extent.
Our work together may involve some or all of the following elements, depending on where you’re ‘at’ and what you are looking for:
- Exploration of your personal history, past issues and their relationship with your present life.
- Clarification of values (what matters to you in life) and goals.
- Analysis of existing mood difficulties and what is maintaining them.
- Developing strategies to reduce debilitating distress and overcome barriers to change.
- Identify life changes and develop a plan for future wellbeing.
My approach involves us working together, rather than you being a passive recipient of my thoughts, reflections, knowledge and observations. While I have knowledge of a wide range of mental health disorders and am trained in evidence-based treatments for these, I do not have a strong affinity with medical models of most disorders, with a few exceptions (for example, those stemming from hormonal and chemical imbalances, or those linked to neurological damage).
My approach is that therapy is a collaboration and a relationship between two individuals with one (the therapist) working with the other in the service of the other’s objectives that they bring to the therapy for help with, rather than something done to the client. Accordingly, at the start of our work together I will spend time gaining an understanding of what has brought you to therapy and how you would like things to be different. I will share my thoughts on what approaches I may be able to offer you and seek your views on which may be a good match for how you would like us to work together. If I do not think I am a suitable match for you I will tell you so and offer alternative suggestions.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have over 30 years of experience in the field of adult mental health and have worked in NHS, charity sector and criminal justice settings. My primary trainings are in cognitive, cognitive-behavioural, and attachment-based therapies, but I have also completed CPD trainings in compassion-focused, psychoanalytic, Gestalt, transactional analysis, existential and person-centred counselling approaches, as well as training in working with long-term health conditions. I have worked in primary, secondary and specialist mental health settings, so I have experience of dealing with conditions of all varieties of severity and complexity.
I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, as well as a Chartered member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. I am also a member of the Society for Existential Analysis.
Primary qualifications: Doctor of Psychology; MSc in Occupational Psychology; BPS Qualification in Forensic Psychology; Postgraduate Diploma in Evidence-Based Psychological Treatments; Postgraduate Diploma in Psychotherapy Studies; BSc Psychology.
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.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£85.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
Initial 30-minute consultations are free. Thereafter, I offer three types of therapy sessions.
Regular therapy sessions - These are 60-minute appointments and cost £85 each. Sessions are weekly to begin with but after an initial period of weekly sessions you may wish to reduce to fortnightly before our work together concludes. I am currently registered as a provider with Allianz, Aviva, Vitality Health and WPA for these sessions.
Intensive MOT session - These are 90-minute appointments and cost £145. They are designed to be self-contained sessions. They focus on deriving a bespoke formulation of your primary issues, including psychoeducation and coping strategies, cumulating in a wellbeing plan for you to action going forward. You may prefer to use this as a one-off session to springboard your own wellbeing maintenance or as an initial session that you can follow up with regular or ad hoc shorter sessions in the future as and when works for you. They are suitable for individuals who have never experienced therapy before or whose last therapy journey was several years ago and for whom multi-session therapy is not a good fit at present.
Wellbeing refresher session - These are 40-minute appointments and cost £70 each. These sessions are suitable for individuals who have attended previous therapy in the last couple of years, either with me or another therapist, for the same issues. You will benefit from this type of session if you have identified some relevant factors instrumental in triggering difficulties but are finding your coping strategies feel past their use-by date and would benefit from updating and/or expanding. They are shorter than regular ongoing therapy sessions and booked on an ad hoc basis. They are suitable for individuals who are not wishing or able to commit to regular sessions. They are not suitable for individuals who have yet to engage in any therapy to develop a basic formulation or individuals who previously attended therapy for a completely different issue.
When I work
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Further information
I offer weekly in-person slots across the week, Mondays to Fridays. I am based at the Brixton Practice on Mondays from 2:30pm to 9pm, Wednesdays from 7am to 2pm and on Fridays from 8am to 1pm. I have ad hoc appointments available on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Rooms for Therapists in Clapham North and online slots available throughout the week. Please contact me for my current availability.
To directly book a free initial appointment or contact me to find out more, you can visit my website Thrown and found or call me on the number listed.
