About me
The first thing to say is that I am a Counselling Psychologist, registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC). As a Counselling Psychologist, I am trained to a doctoral level to deliver researched and evidence-based therapy from a variety of therapeutic models. This allows me to tailor therapy to your individual needs.
As well as learning multiple psychotherapeutic approaches, my training was based on the importance of understanding an individual’s unique experience, and how this can be explored in a therapeutic relationship. Although there are many things that shape who we are as individuals, it is, I believe, our relationships, both with ourselves and others, that often influence us most profoundly. By deepening our self-understanding we deepen our self-compassion, which enables us to transcend trauma and transform the patterns we can find ourselves stuck in.
Trauma Therapy
As a trauma psychologist, my experience and training has taught me that stuck patterns are usually the result of responses to past wounds, or situations in which we couldn't get our needs met. These wounds can often be held in the nervous system but not explicitly remembered. I help people to form compassionate understanding of their particular patterns, and how they are organised around such traumas. From this position the people I work with have the opportunity to heal what hasn't been healed, and find the internal harmony needed to make the changes they may want to make.
I work primarily with Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR (eye movement desensitisation & reprocessing therapy), and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. I tailor my therapeutic approach according to what each individual wants to work on, integrating different approaches as appropriate.
My Experience
I have worked in mental healthcare since 2010. Pre-training I worked in NHS mental health hospitals as a support worker, as a charity helpline worker, and in research settings. Whilst training I gained experience in using psychological therapies across a broad range of NHS mental health services, both inpatient and outpatient with adults, adolescents and families.
Initially trained in person-centred, CBT and psychodynamic therapies, I have since brought the value of these approaches into specialising as a trauma therapist. I have found that therapies like internal family systems enable me to use tradition psychotherapies at a deeper level, resulting in more profound change.
I am a principal NHS psychologist (one grade below consultant) in an Essex community mental health team, working in collaboration with other professions such as psychiatry. I have gained lots of experience of working with complex-trauma and with people who attract a diagnosis of "personality disorder".
I have always worked in private practice alongside NHS work, which has added breadth and depth to my practice.
Professional Registration
Registered Practitioner Psychologist, Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), Registration Number: PYL35334.
Taking the next steps
I appreciate that looking for a therapist can feel a bit overwhelming and confusing. I hope the information above will help to answer some of your questions but if you would like to know more, please contact me via email, and we will find a time for a free initial 30min call to discuss, and get a feel for, how we might work together.
Fees
Please see fee section. Fees: £150 per session.
I take payment from insurers like BUPA, AXA Health and WPA too.
Appointment Times
Tuesdays & Wednesdays: 6-8pm
Thursdays: 11am-5pm
Fridays: 9am-5pm
Training, qualifications & experience
- Internal Family Systems, Level 2, Deepening & Expanding, Internal Family Systems Institute, Marial Pastor, 5 Days, 2025.
- Internal Family Systems, Level 2, A Compassionate Approach to Addictive Processes (substance use, eating, gambling & more), Internal Family Systems Institute, Cece Sykes, 5 Days, 2024.
- Using Internal Family Systems to Heal Trauma and Addictive Processes, 1 day, PESI UK, Cece Sykes, 2024.
- Working with hostile voices and parts of the personality in complex trauma and dissociative disorders, 1 day, Dolores Mosquera, 2024.
- EMDR Therapy for Suicidal clients and Self-harming behaviors, 1 day, Dolores Mosquera, 2024.
- Treating Dissociative Disorders with EMDR: The Progressive Approach, 1 day, Dolores Mosquera, 2024.
- Internal Family Systems & Anxiety, Depression, and Shame, 15hrs, IFS Institute, 15hrs, 2023.
- Internal Family Systems & The Voices of Addiction, IFS Institute, 15hrs, 2023.
- Trauma, Neuroscience and Internal Family Systems, IFS Institute, 15hrs, 2023.
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Developmental Injury, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, 21 Days, 2023.
- Unleash Your EMDR Part 2: AI-EMDR with intergenerational trauma, parts & dreams. EMDR Focus, 15hrs, 2022.
- Internal Family Systems, Level 1, Internal Family Systems Institute, 84hrs, 2022.
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma Themes, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, 96hrs, 2022.
- Traumatic Attachment (shortened course title), Dr Janina Fisher, NScience, 10hrs, 2022.
- Unleash your EMDR: The Basics of Advanced, Attachment-Informed, Integrative EMDR (shortened course title), EMDR Focus, 16hrs, 2022.
- EMDR Europe Standard Accredited Training, parts 1-4, EMDR Academy, 52hrs, 2021-2022
- The Integrated Trauma Therapist: Treating Complex Trauma and PTSD (shortened course title), PESI, 16.5hrs, 2021-2022.
- Expert Strategies for Working with Anxiety, National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICaBM) 4 hours, 2021
- Working with the Pain of Abandonment, NICaBM, 4.25 hours, 2021.
- The Advanced Master Program on the Treatment of Trauma, NICaBM, 12 hours, 2020.
- Me, Myself and I: working with narcissism and its pathological manifestations, 1 day, Confer, 2020.
- Reflective Functioning Training on the Adult Attachment Interview, Anna Freud Centre, 3 days, 2020
- Mentalization-Based Treatment, 3 days, Anna Freud Centre, 2019.
- A Compassionate Approach to Recovering from Shame-Based Trauma and PTSD, 3-days, Compassionate Mind Foundation, 2019.
- Introduction to Cognitive Analytic Therapy, 2 days, Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy, 2019.
- Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, City, University of London, 2013-2017.
- Psychology, MSc, University of East London, 2009-2010.
- Philosophy and Politics, BA, University of Leeds, 2005-2008.
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 HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£150.00 per session
Health Insurance/EAP
When I work
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