This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I offer private art psychotherapy to adults, young people and children in a confidential space near Monmouth.
I am also available as a supervisor with a reduced rate for trainee art therapists.
I provide Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor therapy (PBSP) sessions to individuals and groups. With my colleague Francesca Matrella, I run a six week Wellbeing and Self-Discovery Group which introduces the fundamentals of PBSP.
For me, art-making is a way of dialoguing with myself. It is an escape from the noise in my head, and also a journey into the unknown - I am never quite sure what will emerge. As a therapist I bring the same curiosity and serious playfulness to my work.
I believe that creativity is good for us. It is restorative and energising. We can all do it - you don't have to be 'good' at art to do art therapy. Art-making uses a different part of the brain from words. When we let ourselves play with art materials we can by-pass the barriers that our consciousness has put in place to protect us from historic threats. In the safety of the therapy space we can bring hidden material into awareness and explore it. Understanding ourselves better gives us choices, and when we have choices we can make changes.
I take a person-centred and psychodynamic approach, paying attention to the relationship between us and to the unconscious processes impacting that relationship. Art making within sessions can offer a way to explore feelings and issues that may be hard to clarify in words; the art created also acts as a container for those feelings and a record of the session. All the art made in sessions is kept securely and may be revisited over the course of therapy.
My therapy space is a heated bell tent in the Welsh countryside and, in addition to a range of art materials, you will have access to the natural world to explore creativity with found objects and the sounds and sensations of nature.
Training, qualifications & experience
I currently work as an art psychotherapist for NHS Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in the LD Arts Therapies team working with adults with learning disabilities and in primary and secondary schools in Powys working with children and young people aged 7 to 18.
Before training as an art therapist I worked in community engagement and arts in Gloucester supporting a wide range of people to access their creativity and use the arts for expression and connection.
I am a full member of the British Association of Art Therapists and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council and follow the codes of conduct and ethics of both organisations. I have professional liability insurance, an enhanced DBS certificate and Level 3 Safeguarding training.
Qualifications:
- 2024 Diploma in Clinical Supervision in Health Professions (ABUHB)
- 2023 Foundation Certificate Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (due to complete full training in 2025)
- 2022 Certificate in Trauma-Informed Mindfulness (Bethlehem Tertiary Institute)
- 2019-2022 MA Art Psychotherapy at University of South Wales (with Distinction)
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Children in foster, kinship care or adoption.
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£45.00 - £80.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Standard fee for a 60 minute individual art therapy session is £50.
I offer reduced fees of £45 per session for students/trainees, unemployed, those on low income and refugees.
Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy:
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Individual sessions (not in a group) £80
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Full day with a structure within a group £110 (£100 if booked more than 1 month in advance)
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Full day as Observer Participant (no structure) £60 (£55 if booked more than 1 month in advance)
- Introductory Wellbeing & Self-development Course £45
Supervision
- Individual £50 (£45 for students)
- Shared session (between two) £25 per person
When I work
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Please contact me for availability.
Further information
What is Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy?
PBSP is a body-based method that assists people to meet essential emotional needs that were not fulfilled in their past. This highly respectful approach helps you to recognise the hidden emotional processes and limiting patterns - based on past experiences - that continue to influence your present-day emotions, attitudes, expectations and decisions.
In a PBSP session, role-played 'ideal figures' provide the longed-for emotional interactions that were never experienced in real life. New memories are created using words, imagery, thoughts, sound, touch and motor expression – in other words, through all the modes of expression that make real memories and life histories. New positive experience created in the session starts to create a fresh perspective - a 'new map' - enabling you to make different and more life-enhancing choices.
For more information visit https://pessoboydenuk.org/
