About me
I work with adults who feel overwhelmed, burnt out or stuck, including many neurodivergent people and people dealing with chronic health problems. I also have a particular understanding of the pressures of university life and academia.
Sometimes the difficulty is relatively clear: anxiety, stress, exhaustion or a major life change. Sometimes it's harder to name - life simply isn't working in quite the way you hoped it would, or you're trying to work out who you are and how you want to live.
I offer psychotherapeutic counselling in Durham City Centre and online. My approach is relational, evidence-informed and philosophically grounded.
I am neurodivergent, and often work with neurodivergent adults as well as with people experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, difficult life transitions, identity questions and the challenges of making sense of a life that isn't quite working as they'd hoped.
With a background in philosophy as well as counselling, I'm curious about the bigger questions as well as the immediate difficulties: how we understand ourselves, what we expect from ourselves, how our circumstances shape us, and what a meaningful and sustainable life might look like.
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold a Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling from Northern Guild and am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Before becoming a counsellor, I spent around ten years working in higher education as a researcher and teacher of philosophy. I have a PhD in Philosophy from Durham University. My experience of academia informs my particular interest in supporting people experiencing stress, burnout and pressure related to academic work and study. It also contributes to my interest in the bigger questions that can arise in therapy around identity, values, meaning and how we want to live.
Alongside this, I have developed a particular interest in neurodivergence, chronic health conditions and the ways that these can interact with work, relationships, identity and everyday life.
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
Existential anxiety
AI addiction
Therapies offered
Fees
£45.00 - £65.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
My basic fee is £60 for a weekly 50-minute session.
If you are willing to pay £65, the additional £5 helps me to offer a limited number of lower-cost sessions at £45 to people who might otherwise struggle to afford counselling.
I also offer a limited number of £45 spaces. The fee you pay does not affect the counselling you receive.
Please speak to me if you would like some arrangement other than a weekly 50-minute session.
Further information
I believe therapy works best when it feels like a genuine collaboration. You don't need to arrive with a clear explanation of what's wrong, and you don't need to know what you want to get out of therapy straight away. We can take time to understand what's happening and work out together what might be useful.
I aim to offer a thoughtful, accepting and down-to-earth space where you can be yourself without having to perform, justify or tidy up your experiences. I'm particularly interested in the ways that our circumstances, relationships, bodies, minds and wider environments can all shape how we feel and function.
I offer sessions in Durham and online.
I welcome clients of all genders and sexualities, and I aim to work in a way that is trans-affirming and respectful of how you understand and describe your own identity.
I welcome people from a range of backgrounds and identities, and I'm committed to making therapy as accessible and comfortable as possible.
