About me
So, you are here because you are looking for some therapy and that involves trying to find the right person for you. It isn't always easy to find the right therapist with so many approaches and so much available out there. For me, good therapy is all about the relationship you build and about taking risks together to move towards change. I am there to get stuck in with you and to be honest about what is happening and the conversations we have. Good therapy can be a profound and life changing experience: understanding who we are, what we want and why we act and behave in certain ways can be really confusing, frustrating and leave us feeling lost, but it can bring so much richness out the other side. This is a journey I like to take with clients and I like most of all to work with people who can see there is a problem and are prepared to get actively involved in shaping their lives and making changes (despite the fear!).
Therapy for me is about doing, not just talking. I've been there myself to experience the best and worst, and the experiences I have had have had a profound impact on how I live my life. I know it can be difficult opening up to someone, especially whilst you get to know each other. I see the therapy room as a dynamic space and (where appropriate) like to integrate models and psychoeducation into the work I do with clients, offering a mixture of challenge and support. For me, it's important to be an active participant in the room with my clients and to really help focus on the issues in hand - whatever they happen to be for you. I like to check in with how the work together is going and make sure that I am the right therapist throughout the process. I will be honest about my feelings about this.
Ultimately, I want to help my clients change and shift what is stuck and to help them grow. I am passionate about this and love my work. I am caring and open and can be direct too. I work in a trauma-informed way, which means that making sure you feel safe with me in the room and that we don't "reactivate" past trauma in an unhelpful way, before you can process it properly. As a man, it feels especially important that I have a focus on safety for all my clients.
I am interested therefore in working with men's health issues, with the creating and upholding of positive masculinity and role models - whilst I value working with all genders and backgrounds. I am a passionate advocate of equality and in humanities capacity for change, self-reflection and self-improvement.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have an Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling, which means I utilise a range of therapeutic models in my work. I have experience in a wide range of areas including: Addiction, Anxiety, Bereavement, Co-dependency (or unhelpful relationship patterns), Cancer and illness, Depression, Personality Disorders and Life Transitions. I have been working with clients for over 5 years.
I have specific experience on the difficult impact addictive behaviours and compulsions can have, having worked within this field though my counselling career at The Swan Project, an Addictions charity in Bristol.
My work (and my entire life) has been changed and informed through a personal journey I have had following a cancer diagnosis and subsequent (successful) treatment. This experience has deepened my experience of the world and my capacity to hold complicated and painful experiences in my clients. I understand how changes to our health or the security of our circumstances can have a wide-ranging impact on all physical, emotional and relational parts of life. Sometimes life can try to knock you down - and we can do a lot to hold these existential challenges in a way that can bring more richness and meaning to our lives moving forwards.
Member organisations
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
Accredited Register Scheme
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
Male issues
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£50.00 per session
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Sessions cost £50 for 50 mins.
I offer a free 20 minute consultation to better understand your needs and see how we can work together.
Availability
My working hours are Monday to Friday from 8am - 4pm. I have limited availability, so please contact me with your preferred days and times or go to https://bit.ly/3AplBYZ.
Further information
I offer online sessions from my cosy "counselling shed" in my garden as well as outdoor walking therapy from various locations in the Frampton Cotterell, Yate, Winterbourne area of north Bristol. I do not provide face to face counselling.