About me
How do you feel right now?
Your only human if you get stuck in negative patterns of behaviour, are experiencing trauma due to an unwelcome change in your life. The truth is many of us feel trapped by your environment, complex situations and relationships. We can be positive people and still feel scared, unloved, undervalued, ashamed or unconfident.
Perhaps you are confused as to why you feel so low. Are you experiencing fear of change, feel paralysed by a phobia or completely overwhelmed with grief or multiple losses.
Life can deal us a rough hand, mostly through self-actuation we struggle to get through what life deals us but sometimes it can be really difficult. Most people who come to therapy have felt the need to struggle alone too, it takes a determination and strength to accept that there might be help beyond your own thoughts. I regard working with you a privilege because I appreciate the trust in me that you bring.
Rapport with your therapist is the no 1, evidenced reason on what makes therapy effective, for this reason I invite you to arrange a call with me to chat through what you want from our time together and to give you a feeling as to whether you feel comfortable with choosing me as your therapist.
Therapy is challenging and sometimes things are just so raw, so let’s discuss where you are now and assess the best plan for you.
So what can you expect?
Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy
If you work with me, I will have empathy for your problems, I will not judge you, and am likely to be moved by your story, I will listen to you and self-reflect on my own feelings in response to what you say. I will place my trust in you as I hope you can in me, so that we can ponder our differences and similarities, draw connections based on my professional and our joint personal experiences and help you explore your problems. I will make suggestions to help expand awareness and encourage curiosity, we might discuss theoretical reasoning. I will always seek permission to try anything new.
Some clients like to address and re-frame past trauma, however, some clients don’t or aren’t ready to look back over the past and only want to move forward and that’s fine too.
As an Integrative Therapist I have a toolkit of therapeutic practices, based on the most up-to-date evidenced schools of practice, this is a collaborative approach and much of the learning happens between sessions and in the time after.
I am also able to draw on complimentary medicine through my training as a Cognitive Hypnotherapist. I am full members of the (British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapist (BACP) and QCHPA Hypnotherapy Registered body.
Cognitive Hypnotherapy
I have been working as a Cognitive Hypnotherapist for many years, and had remarkable success in helping people overcome acute phobias, make contact with their trauma in ways that they couldn’t within traditional talking therapy, this has been an excellent tool for confidence building. The methods help side-step internal negative chatter by helping clients feel safe and often excited to make the changes they have been scared to make for so long.
We will work collaboratively around a problem and question:
What?
What happens and what makes it go away for you, what helps? What happens if the issue does go away?
Why?
Working together we will identify what is the unconscious gain of this behaviour that keeps you stuck?
When?
When does this happen and when doesn’t it?
How?
How does it manifest and what are the triggers? How doesn’t it happen sometimes?
My therapy will be future focused, together we will examine how you will recognise when things are better, how you will feel and what will you notice? What will you be able to do, think or feel that you can’t now?
Hypnotherapy is not like stage Hypnotism, you will be aware and relaxed and everything is done with consent. I can assure you I am not a magician I just have training to help you side-step resistance.
Ecotherapy
I am passionate about our connection to nature and if you love the outdoors I also offer phone sessions when you are out in nature, I invite you to participate in experiential learning outdoors and to experience how you find you own personal connection with the more than human world. I am interested in how strengthening this connection can give people a sense of belonging, an ability to live in the moment, it can be incredibly useful in grief work and when we feel trapped by our environments. Ecotherapy can help us feel more in tune with our primal selves and reach beyond the trappings of a complicated world.
So what about me!
I am person of contradictions, I am confident and anxious, organised and disorganised, spontaneous but like to plan, extrovert and introvert, imaginative and experience creative blocks. Like everyone I am complex and influenced by the world around me. I am definitely more than one-self and this gives me confidence in knowing that if one-self dies another will emerge. This I have learnt through my own life struggles.
I have an enquiring mind, like to ponder and research and enjoy work that uses creativity and brings something to the world. As a Therapist I feel I have the perfect job for me.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have a Post Grad Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling (Masters Level) and a Level 5 Counselling Training in working with Children and Young People.
I have worked as a Counsellor/Psychotherapist for the NHS IAPT service and with MIND, helping Adults with a variety of problems, including helping people live with uncertainty and illness, caring for others, living with acute depression and anxiety, experiencing trauma and multiple loss. I have worked with Children as a Counsellor within a Further Education College.
Currently I am employed, part-time by one of the largest and well known children's charities. In this work I help children with emotional problems.
I also volunteer for a well-know Grief and Bereavement Charity.
I worked for many years in private practice as a Cognitive Hypnotherapist, I treated people with problems associated with phobias, addictions, sexual abuse, Trauma, OCD, confidence issues, anxiety and depression.
I have studied ecotherapy which includes many CPD trainings and building connections with the outside world.
My Toolkit
Gestalt, CBT, Hypnotherapy, EFT, Myres Brigs, Coaching, Parts-Work (IFS), NLP, Transactional Analysis, PAC work, use of ritual, ecotherapy, arts therapy, narrative therapy, Humanistic therapy, somatic work. NB this is not an exhaustive list and my toolkit expands regularly
So what to do next?
Are you ready to feel differently? It can feel scary but don’t worry, I can go at your pace and have a variety of methods to help. Give me a call and I’ll help you move forward in whatever way you choose.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£35.00 - £120.00
Additional information
Fees
I offer a free telephone consultation to help us establish if we feel we are a good fit for your needs
Counselling / Psychotherapy
Zoom and Telephone Ecotherapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling £60 for 50 mins
Concessions offered for
- Low income, in receipt of benefits £35 (depending on availability)
- Students £35 including Trainee Counsellors (depending on availability)
I usually work on a minimum of 6 sessions with Counselling and Psychotherapy as this is evidenced as the minimum needed to build a therapeutic relationship on which the basis of deep trust can be formed. Sessions are usually weekly.
Hypnotherapy
Smoking Cessation £120 a session (Using Hypnotherapy)
Face to face Hypnotherapy £90 an hour (First session can be up to two hours). This first session is discounted to £150, it covers additional work between sessions.
There is no minimum requirement for these sessions, other than the initial history take and following session. After that we evaluate as we go.
For all services your fees include my professional fees for in and out of session work and for my work with you to be supervised by a Professional Supervisor.
Further information
For Counselling I usually work online or over the phone.
