About me
About me
I am an integrative psychotherapist experienced in working with adult clients, particularly (but by no means exclusively) men, facing a wide range of challenges.
How I work
I work with people who are experiencing the difficulties in living, stemming from either acute or complex trauma, who struggle with anxiety, depression, addiction, chronic illness, and relationship issues. As an integrative psychotherapist I draw on several methods:
Relational: our psychological development and health is directly tied to the quality of the relationships we have with others. As such the therapeutic relationship is held sacred and secure, allowing us to collaboratively look at relationship patterns, emotional needs, and communication styles as they come up in the therapeutic relationship itself.
Psychodynamic: a large part of the mind is made up of unconscious patterns and templates which influence how we think, feel, sense and act. These unconscious patterns are usually laid down in the first years of life. Therapy aims to bring what is unconscious into conscious awareness to then create greater freedom to live more intentionally and authentically now.
Humanistic: the human organism has an innate tendency towards health and self-actualisation, and therapy focuses on creating the necessary conditions for these natural processes to occur.
Neurosomatic: the nervous system creates our conscious experience through a complex interconnection of brain, body and mind. Therapy looks at how we carry our psychological pain in these three channels.
Cognitive-behavioural and mindfulness: therapy helps to examine and challenge our core unconscious assumptions about ourselves and the world, using mindfulness as the means of subjective examination.
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Above and beyond any one method or combination of methods, I see therapy as a dual process of shedding and cultivating.
By shedding I mean removing and letting go of, in psychotherapy terminology, our “false self” presentation: that defensive, self-protective part of ourselves we’ve grown to believe is the only acceptable version.
Much of what makes up the “false self” is unconscious – we’ve been enacting its repertoire of beliefs and behaviours for so long it’s become second nature – and so the purpose of therapy here is to help the person I work with become more conscious of it.
This is a process of deep learning. Understanding which of our habitual behaviours are “false-self” adaptations can be powerfully illuminating: These adaptations, once adopted at a young age as a necessary solution to the challenge of getting our needs met at that time, are often no longer fit for purpose in adult life, and are usually now the very cause of the anxiety, addiction, depression, and other distresses, we seek therapy for.
Often in therapy, when we become more conscious of our “false self” patterns, we can then be left with questions like, "What now?”, Who am I really?”, “How do I go about things now?” These questions and others like them relate to what I see as the process of cultivating: cultivating what was always already there beneath the false self presentation, which is your own unique, ordinary human nature with its own set of ordinary human needs.
The common tragedy, as I see it, is most parents – and our culture at large – despite their best intentions (with notable exceptions), have children and immediately, unconsciously, go about trying to mould their children into an “acceptable” shape that’ll reflect well on them or make up for their own perceived shortfalls—rather than lovingly, humbly and excitedly wanting to find out who their children are and help them become more and more fully themselves.
In my experience, many people therefore come to therapy with the expectation that the point is to perfect themselves, to become more and more “acceptable”. This is an understandable consequence of the parental and cultural expectations we’re born into.
But the point of therapy is not to perfect ourselves, it is to understand and accept ourselves as we really are beneath the false self exterior, and to develop more effective, healthy ways of handling the needs, fears, feelings, desires and vulnerabilities that come from this innermost, essentially valid, part of ourselves.
The Quality of My Work
I attend weekly personal therapy myself with a senior psychotherapist and at least fortnightly supervision with a senior qualified practitioner to support me in providing safe, ethical, quality professional clinical practice.
I regularly attend workshops, short courses and other trainings for my Continuing Professional Development.
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP) and I am working towards senior accreditation. I adhere to the BACP’s ethical framework for good practice.
Getting Started
I offer one-to-one sessions in-person in East Dulwich/Peckham Rye, and in Brockley, and online.
If my approach appeals to you then please contact me to arrange an initial conversation to see if we’re a good fit. This will usually be a 15–20-minute video call which is free of charge.
Training, qualifications & experience
2016-2017: 1 year Certificate in Psychotherapy & Counselling at Regent's University
2021-2023: 2 year PGDip in Neurosomatic Psychotherapy at NAOS Institute
2024-2025: 2 year PGDip in Advanced Clinical Practise in Psychotherapy & Counselling at The Minster Centre
Ongoing: I attend a regular monthly Continuing Professional Development group as well as other CPD workshops, short courses and other trainings.
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.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£75.00 - £90.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
My fee is between £75 and £90 (depending on location, and online vs in person) for a 50-minute session . I hold a small number of spaces at a reduced fee for people on low income or in financial difficulty. The availability for these spaces changes, so please ask for details.
When I work
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Further information
If it sounds like my approach appeals to you then please contact me to arrange an initial conversation to see if we’re a good fit for one another. This will usually be 15–20-minute zoom or phone call which is free of charge.
