About me
I work as an integrative counsellor with children, adolescents, young adults and parents in North London. Having worked for over 25 years in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in a number of different specialities and geographical locations, I am passionate about the role that a counsellor can have in helping young people recover from difficulties they may be having, maximising their potential in life and giving them a positive experience of seeking help from another.
An integrative approach allows the counsellor to draw on a number of different therapeutic modalities when working with a young person, rather than being limited to one way of working. At the heart of my work is the absolute importance of the young person and counsellor developing a relationship where the client feels listened to, trusted and understood. In my experience, it is when this relationship is attended to and developed that meaningful changes can occur in the work, and in the young person’s life. My training and clinical experience includes play and using the arts in therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, trauma-informed attachment-based approaches, family based systemic work, psychodynamic thinking and a number of other modalities.
I have had significant experience of working with children and teenagers of all ages in the NHS and independent sector, and in addition I offer my services to the older teenage/young adult bracket. My services also include parental therapeutic sessions, which can be of enormous value in the often significant challenges of supporting children through different stages of their lives. I am very comfortable with working with all ages of children and young people.
Training, qualifications & experience
The majority of my working life has been within NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, having initially trained as a paediatric nurse. This has included both inpatient and community based services, as well as in schools. I have had the privilege of working within a broad variety of clinical settings, including general adolescent mental health, eating disorders, neurodiversity services and more recently in paediatric liaison. This allowed me to deepen my expertise in working with young people who had significant physical difficulties that were connected to their emotional health in some way. I have completed a training and BACP accredited qualification in Integrative Child Counselling, which has a focus on the impact of play and the creative arts in helping children to access therapeutic support. This training gave me the opportunity to complete clinical work in both primary and secondary school settings, as well as within adoption services.
Member organisations
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
The impact of unexplained medical symptoms on psychological health.
Somatic symptoms in young people.
Therapies offered
Fees
£80.00 - £120.00
Additional information
I offer an initial exploratory phonecall, usually with the parent/carer of a young person, free of charge, of up to 30 minutes. This enables a decision to be made about whether to plan an initial assessment session and possible further individual sessions.
Assessment session: £120 (90 minutes)
Individual session: £80
