About me
For me, counselling is about giving space and time to the wholeness of you.
It rests on the simple, yet too often elusive values of feeling truly seen and heard; where judgement is replaced by deep empathy and compassion, especially for the most challenging parts of ourselves. It is about making greater sense of the here and now – often in relation to the there and then of our past – in a way that facilitates greater self-awareness, self-compassion and grounded self-confidence in who we are today.
For many of us, enquiry into our inner world can feel challenging – especially if our lives have required that we adapt to protect ourselves in certain conscious and unconscious ways. Working with this challenge is central to determining the shape and pace of each client’s individual journey, making attunement, compassion and empathy paramount. My approach to working with clients is integrative in the sense that various aspects from differing counselling/therapeutic modalities become blended as a moving, fluid thing allowing each client’s bespoke experience of therapy to be guided by the need of their story. The therapeutic relationship built between us will form an anchor to the work and as this builds, your capacity to go deeper – to feel increasingly curious about rather than frightened by the narratives, memories and self-limiting beliefs you carry – will become greater. The journey itself is like a gathering of resource whereby the tools and strategies needed will organically present themselves with the help of the therapist as guide, witness and container for your storying.
In the therapy sessions you and I share together, the space and time will be yours to bring whatever is currently presenting for you. The shared safe space will encourage you, with support, to dictate the pace and content of your sessions, allowing your journey to unfold within the insightful, supportive, unconditional holding space of the therapeutic relationship. Our time together may be used to reflect on and offload the complexities of everyday life or to explore a diverse range of issues which might be affecting you, including: anxiety, depression, shame, loneliness, grief, anger, loss, parenthood, adverse childhood experiences, panic, low self-esteem, self-loathing, despair, stress, relationship challenges, work/study difficulties, family challenges, bullying, self-harm, living with (neuro)diversity, suicidal thoughts, attachment patterning and trauma.
Training, qualifications & experience
Counsellor & Therapist
(MSc, Prof. Dip, MNCPS Accred.)
Professional Training: Professional Counselling Diploma (Prof. Dip), Research Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Edinburgh University with a focus on the psychology of motherhood (MSc).
My therapeutic training has been embedded in person-centred and psychodynamic principles, and incorporates attachment theory and parts work (IFS) as cornerstones for understanding. (Please see my website for a more detailed explanation of these). My approach to working with clients is integrative, which means that it is premised on finding the best working fit for clients and ensuring each journey unfolds at its own pace within the unconditionally supportive and deeply affirming context of the therapeutic relationship.
Prior to becoming a therapist, I have spent many years committed to understanding myself and others’ stories more fully in a range of both personal and professional settings including high school teaching, specialist trauma-informed youth work in education, and third sector engagement. The direction of my work from this point onwards has been as a therapist working with adult clients aged 18+, drawing on the wisdom of my training and learning and fuelled by my clients' immense bravery and capacity to speak into the fullness of themselves - however complex their story.
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 National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society This Not For Profit association of counsellors and psychotherapists aim to support the counselling profession, members and training organisations. In 2013 the NCS register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Voluntary Register Scheme. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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
£60.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
- All therapy sessions are 60 minutes in length, regardless of price bracket.
- Sessions are £60
- Some limited concessional daytime rates are available before 3pm at £50 per session.
When I work
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Further information
Most of us can feel uncertain about taking this initial step into the counselling room, and inwards towards ourselves. It can feel like a daunting and unknown prospect and there are often a host of valid, compelling reasons not to. In my experience, if you have brought yourself this far then the struggle is real enough for you to hear it - already you might thank yourself for listening. You’ve taken many small, initial steps towards yourself by looking into counselling and making the time to read this. Perhaps your next step will be into the counselling space, or perhaps not, but either way know that another pathway exists for you if/when you feel able to take it.
If you sense that this time might be now, please do reach out and make contact with me to arrange an initial online 20 minute appointment, free of charge, where we can talk more about what counselling might be able to offer you and whether you feel I may be a suitable companion to accompany you on your important journey.
