About me
Often people choose to meet with a counsellor to explore relationship issues, anxiety, depression, loss, illness, bereavement, trauma or abuse. Sometimes people feel stuck or overwhelmed by life and have tried everything to manage on their own.
Developing a trusting relationship with a counsellor is an essential part of the therapeutic process as this allows for a confident and free expression of thoughts and feelings, and a space to reflect and for changes and a recovery to take place.
Choosing to start counselling and finding the right counsellor can feel daunting. It is important that the client has an opportunity at the first meeting to see whether they feel comfortable to continue.
If so, with discussion I can help you to decide what is best for you in terms of the number of sessions and what the focus of sessions will be, if that is required.
As a fully qualified counsellor and a Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy I bring my 10 years experience including 4 years as part of the NHS and charitable organisations to offer short term or open ended counselling to adults in a warm, safe and confidential environment.
All my work adheres to the code of ethics of the BACP. This means that clients can expect a setting that has professional integrity, that is non-judgemental and respectful and in which it is possible to explore anything that may be troubling or that needs talking about.
I believe that each of us have feelings and experiences that are unique and that can be shared and understood more fully with a counsellor.
I have been funded by the NHS to train in Counselling for Depression. This is a NICE approved therapy and is an NHS High Intensity Intervention for moderate to severe depression. This approach involves a collaborative exploration of the client's experiences, thoughts and feelings that are linked to, or that may underly depression. Rather than focusing on symptoms, the whole experience of the client is explored from their own perspective. This approach can focus on feelings that may also be sensed in the body and that can be helped to find expression and acknowledgement.
I bring to all my work an awareness of the physical experiences that can result from stress, trauma depression, anxiety, unexplored emotions and illness. Underpinning my work is a belief that we all have an inherent healing ability that can help us to process painful or unresolved experiences without feeling overwhelmed. This process is facilitated with a sensitively attuned therapist in a non-invasive way and can lead to feelings of being well and of being confidently more able to deal with life's issues.
Following a Fine Art degree I trained as a body based therapist more than 30 years ago and have extensive experience of working with children, many with special needs and disabilities, and with adults including NHS work for the Immune Development Trust as a Healing - Shiatsu Practitioner and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy
- Four years experience as a counsellor within charitable organisations and the NHS as part of: Sittingbourne NHS Primary Care Psychological Therapies Unit (KMPT), NHS and MIND in Newham Talking Therapies, MIND Tower Hamlets, GP Surgeries, The Waymark Trust.
- Diploma In Integrative Conselling, Interpsyche Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies (BACP Acredited) as part of Kent and Medway NHS Social Care and Partnership Trust (2012) (Distinction)
- Certificate in Counselling, University of Kent (2009)
- Counselling for Depression, Metanoia (2015) NHS funded NICE approved
- Working with Interpreters, NHS Newham Talking Therapies (2013)
- Meeting the Challenges of Dissociation CPD, Bowlby Centre (2014)
- Complex Trauma and Attchment Bonds CPD, Bowlby Centre (2012)
- 20 years experience as a Healing- Shiatsu Practitioner and teacher (BSS, 1996), (HSEC, 2000) and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist (Karuna, 2001) working in the NHS, Immune development Trust with the NHS, Charities and in Private practice.
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
Support during life threatening or other illness, surgery and treatment
Impact of Mental Health diagnosis
Fertility issues
Childlessness
Menopause
Disability Issues
Transgender Issues
Therapies offered
Fees
After the initial session, alll subsequent sessions last for 50 minutes, usually on a weekly basis at the same time.
Fees and meeting times are subject to agreement in the first session, as is the number of sessions. This fee is £45 per session (open to review subject to circumstances).