About me
Addiction therapy is a process in which we will work together to understand how your current life circumstances, your history and experiences, your habits and your natural traits have come together so that you find yourself not being adequately in control of your choices and behaviours. With this understanding of you as a unique individual, along with knowledge of how addiction works neurologically in the brain, and drawing on evidence-based psychological methods, we will then co-create a plan that will work for you.
We can address any addictive or compulsive behaviour such as
- Alcohol, Drugs, Eating, Sex, Porn, Gambling, Shopping, Exercise, Gaming, Internet, Prescriptions, Social-media, Nicotine, Work, Rage, Plastic-surgery, Self-harm, Tattoos, Risky-activities, Vomiting, Hoarding, Bingeing...
I have a special interest in working with people struggling with both ADHD and addiction as this combination can create particularly difficult challenges for individuals. I also offer fully comprehensive, NICE approved, ADHD assessments for adults.
Whatever stage you are at
Perhaps you have finished a treatment programme or are still involved, or you are just starting to notice that you don’t have the control you would wish over your behaviour, or maybe you realise that you are lying or being secretive about your spending, eating porn use or other behaviour. Please head over to my website on www.therapyacb.co.uk to read more about therapy and how it could help.
The Vicious Cycle Can be Broken
Addictions and compulsive behaviours cause harm to our health, finances and relationships as well as our general mental health and our sense of who we are. They can leave us feeling out of control and, when we have already tried to change but then gone back to our old habits, it can feel like we’re completely stuck. And this feeling of helplessness, and sometimes shame, can lead us to resort even more to the behaviour that we want to stop. It feels like a vicious circle with no way out.
But you can be reassured that most people ‘grow through’ their addictive behaviour and, with the right help at the right time, it stops being a dominating feature in their lives.
What is a Counselling Psychologist?
As a Psychologist, I bring expertise on human behaviour, brain neurology and evidence of what actually works to help people. As a Counselling Psychologist, I also bring person-centred counselling skills such as empathy, compassion, patience and a kindness towards you and all your behaviours without judgement.
One-to-one Addiction Therapy
Perhaps the most valuable aspect of individual therapy is gaining insight into, and then overcoming, exactly what combination of factors made you susceptible to developing the addictive behaviour. Understandably, this will include traumatic or challenging events from any point in your life. We can then anticipate what could make it harder for you to give up the unwanted behaviour and what might make you more vulnerable to going back to it even though you don’t want to. In this way, we will build a comprehensive and robust plan that will make life easier in the short term and, in the longer term, give you the resilience to keep taking your life forward towards your goals and values.
The particular combination of therapeutic approaches will be individual for each person but are likely to include some cognitive and behavioural methods to develop beneficial structures. This will be complemented by approaches that explore, uncover and lead to positive change in how you understand yourself; in your confidence to make the transformations you want and in your resilience to maintain those changes. These approaches, which are deeply compassionate and non-judgemental, include Internal Family Systems (IFS), Coherence Therapy (CT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). Please head over to my website www.therapyacb.co.uk to find out more about them.
Respecting your whole life
Of course, behaviours such as substance and alcohol abuse, gambling, compulsive porn, shopping and binge eating often do not occur alone. We might find that we are taking drugs and also engaging in risky sexual behaviour or binge eating and lying about how much money we are spending shopping. So it is crucially important that we don’t just focus on a specific behaviour but aim to understand how it functions in the context of you as a whole person with a past, present and future life.
I hope you find useful information on my website. If you have any queries and would like to talk through whether working with me would be right for you at this time, do please get in touch. We can arrange a 15 minute video consultation, without charge, to help you to decide. I look forward to hearing from you.
Training, qualifications & experience
Honours Degree in Psychology
MSc in Counselling Psychology
Post MSc Diploma in Counselling Psychology. This qualification granted Chartership with the British Psychological Society.
The Associate Fellowship with the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS) recognises extensive post-qualification experience.
My ongoing accreditation now requires that I am also registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) which is a guarantee to clients of my qualifications, training, ethical practice and ongoing professional development.
Alongside my private therapy practice, I have worked as a psychologist within the NHS for over 20 years. This has been in a range of settings including Substance Misuse; Adult Mental Health and across a broad spectrum of physical health conditions, including chronic pain, cancer, respiratory and sleep. I also worked as the Lead Psychologist in an Adult Weight Management service.
I initially trained in CBT, Person Centred and Psychodynamic approaches. Over my career, I have completed significant training in: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT); Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). More recently I have attended an extensive programme of Internal Family Systems training through IFSCA (Canada) and gained certification in Behavioural Addictions and in Binge Eating Disorder.
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.
British Psychological Society
The HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
All Addictions and Compulsive Behaviours including: Alcohol,Drugs, Cocaine, Heroin, Eating, Sex, Porn, Love, Grief, Gambling, Shopping, Exercise, Gaming, Internet, Social-media, Food, Nicotine, Opioids, Benzodiazepine, Work, Inhalants, Arguing, Marijuana, Methamphetamine, Rage, Barbiturates, Plastic-surgery, Smart-phones, Caffeine, Tattoos, Risky-activities, Vomiting, Hoarding, Bingeing, Self-harm
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£85.00 per session
Additional information
Introductory 15 minute video or phone call is free of charge.
Video sessions of 50 - 60 minutes at £85.
Walking Therapy of 1.5 to 3 hours - Further information on my website (www.Therapyacb.co.uk) but please get in touch to discuss.
In-person sessions at various venues in the location.
A small allocation of sessions at a concessionary fee. Please see my website for details.
Further information
Not sure about therapy?
If you are unsure about taking the step towards therapy at this time, please take a look at the Other Resources page within the Making the Most of Therapy section of my website, www.therapyacb.co.uk. Here you will find links to other information and self-help workbooks that might feel to be an easier first step.
