About me
You may have been living, for a while now, with an addiction, an anxiety, a low mood, or a way of coping that has quietly taken hold. I offer depth counselling for trauma, addiction and the search for meaning, in Angel and Clerkenwell, and online.
The effects of trauma are often what bring people to me in the first place. I work most often with:
- substance dependency
- problematic or compulsive coping, such as pornography use, gambling or gaming
- compulsive intimacy, emotional distance and other relational difficulties
- severe anxieties, including panic, intrusive thoughts and social anxiety
- persistent low mood and depression
- low self-esteem, body image and distressed eating
- other ways of thinking or behaving that have taken hold
- Neurodivergence, and ADHD in particular, is often part of the picture for the people I work with, and we make room for that
Much of this began as a way to get through something, so I am less interested in judging it than in understanding it. Overcoming the effects of trauma is really about making your body and your life feel like a safe place to be again.
What it is like to work with me. People often ask what I am like to sit with. I am warm, and I am direct. I will not rush you, and I will not fill a silence for the sake of it. Much of the time we go slowly, at a pace your body can bear, because trauma does not respond well to being hurried. People often say the hardest thing out loud, then look up to check my face, and it is still just me, still listening. I am not easily shocked, and you will not have to make yourself smaller, or edit yourself, to be met here.
Difference is welcome here. Trauma and distress can enter anyone's life, though some of us carry more of it and find less support waiting, often because of who we are or how the world has treated us. In my room, you will not have to explain or defend your identity, your background or your relationships. Whoever you are, you will be met with respect and without judgement.
The first step is a free 30-minute call. It is not a session or an assessment, just a chance to tell me a little about what is going on and to get a feel for whether we might work well together. Get in touch by email, phone or WhatsApp, tell me how you would prefer me to reply, and I will come back to you within 24 hours. You do not need to explain everything, or have it worked out.
Training, qualifications & experience
My training runs across both sides of the work I offer: the evidence-based practice of trauma recovery, and the depth traditions that go beneath it.
Qualifications
- Master of Counselling, Monash University
- Master of Narrative Therapy, University of Melbourne
- One-year Trauma Recovery training, the Dulwich Centre
- Currently in advanced training in transpersonal and depth-oriented therapy
Registrations
- Accredited registrant member of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (MNCPS Accred.), an Accredited Register overseen by the Professional Standards Authority. I work to the NCPS Code of Ethics.
- Registered member of Addiction Professionals, the UK body for the addictions field
- Further registrations in Australia and Hong Kong (PACFA, ACA and HKPCA), where I trained and practised for many years
Experience
Before I trained as a counsellor, I spent twenty years in professional services across the UK, Australia and Asia. Born and raised in Scotland, I am a gay man in my fifties, living and working in London. That background gives my practice both depth and a wide sense of the lives people lead.
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 National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society This Not For Profit association of counsellors and psychotherapists aim to support the counselling profession, members and training organisations. In 2013 the NCS register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Voluntary Register Scheme. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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
Photos & videos
Fees
£85.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
My fee is £85 for a 50-minute session, paid by card, Apple Pay or bank transfer. We can work short-term, long-term or open-ended, depending on what you need.
I offer a reduced rate for clients who want to work in depth over the longer term, and a limited number of lower-cost places for people who could not otherwise afford support and would benefit from it. Please ask if cost is a barrier.
The first conversation, a 30-minute call, is free and carries no obligation.
When I work
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Further information
How I work
The first step is a free 30-minute call, so we can get a feel for each other and for whether we might work well together. There is no obligation to go further.
When we begin, the early sessions are a little more structured. We get clear on what is most pressing, and on small things that might ease matters in the meantime, before we go any deeper.
From there, much of the work is about easing the effects of trauma, which is where most people start. For those who want it, there is a second movement, going deeper, to make sense of who you are becoming, beyond the shadow of what happened.
My therapeutic approach
However you arrive, we begin there, and move at your pace. I do not work from a fixed script. I draw on several approaches and adapt them to you.
Finding some ground. When everything feels like too much, the first work is often simply to find some ground. For this I draw on well-researched approaches, including cognitive, mindfulness-based and body-focused (somatic) work. They can help you settle anxiety, steady a craving, or find some footing when distress feels overwhelming.
Making sense of your story. As things settle, we can start to make sense of how they came to be. This is where narrative therapy comes in. It begins from the idea that you are the expert on your own life, not me. Often the problem you are wrestling with is not you; it is something that has taken up residence, and it can be faced.
Working gently with trauma. Trauma sits underneath a great deal of what brings people to me, so it shapes how I work throughout. When you are ready, we can turn towards the harder memories, and the feelings tangled up with them, at a pace your body can bear.
Going deeper, when you are ready. For some people the work goes further than easing the symptom, into questions of meaning, identity and how you want to live. It is deeper, more reflective work, less about fixing a problem than understanding what it has been asking of you. Never rushed, and not for everyone, but for those who want it, it is where the deepest change tends to happen.
