About me
When you’re stuck in anxious thoughts or worries and you have the loudest inner critic in the world, life can feel pretty hard. Maybe it feels like life has flattened you, that you’ve lost your ‘light’ and now anxiety is running the show. Anxiety is your body and mind responding to perceived threat, like an overactive guard dog that keeps woofing at shadows. Those racing thoughts, the tightness in your chest and difficulty sleeping can result in life getting smaller. You may be reaching for unhelpful coping mechanisms to get you through. You want to get on but it's like being stuck in an invisible cage.
There may be a tangible ‘something’ that has happened (though not always), a relationship loss, life challenge/transition, illness, burnout, bereavement. Or it may be that anxiety is showing up in your relationship patterns and you find yourself questioning why you keep doing a certain thing or thinking a certain way. Whatever it is that brings you to therapy we can explore this together and help you come back to yourself. You deserve to be able to live your life fully.
If your inner critic is reading this and leaving you doubting that it’s even ok to come to therapy (‘because there are people who are loads worse off than you’ - thanks inner critic!) then please give yourself a permission-slip now. It’s never a waste of time to look after yourself and it means that you can be there in a resourced way in the world.
Being a human is a messy business and sometimes you just need a space where you can start to understand and be understood, to integrate your experiences and start being a bit kinder to yourself, this can bring relief and change. Therapy isn’t about fixing, it's about helping you to live your life fully.
How I work & how that helps
I’m an Integrative Counselling Psychotherapist, which is a mouthful to say out loud and confusing to most folk who are not therapists! So what does it mean? The ‘Integrative’ bit refers to integrating/ bringing together different ways of working (or approaches), so between us we can work out what you need and the therapy becomes bespoke to you. In my work I bring together CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy - useful for understanding the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour) Psychodynamic (useful for understanding relationships & attachment patterns) and Humanistic approaches (centering your experience in the here & now, deeply valuing you as you & creating a therapeutic relationship to help you explore).
I bring a grounded warmth and curiosity to our work. We not only work with practical tools and strategies, we can also explore the deeper roots of what you are experiencing. I’ll pay attention to patterns, thoughts, feelings and behaviours; what keeps you stuck and what helps you shift. We’ll notice how your body responds and invite gentle curiosity and challenge. I’m sensitive to understanding the context in which you live and have lived, especially where this involves inequities, the role of power and what that has meant to you.
We can look at what triggers anxiety and the patterns that maintain it. How past experiences have shaped your response to stress and uncertainty. Working with anxiety is not about getting rid of anxiety but helping you have a different relationship to it, where it no longer runs the show.
Qualifications and experience
I am a fully qualified and experienced Integrative Counselling Psychotherapist, I hold a Post Graduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy (Level 7) from the University of South Wales and I am a registered member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) which is the professional association for members of counselling professions in the UK. I’ve worked for several counselling organisations in Cardiff including Platfform Wellbeing, The Junction and Connections Cardiff (now part of Pobl). I have an enhanced DBS certificate and am fully insured.
CPD/Specialisms
I'm committed to continuous professional development and in addition to my core training have done further training in the following areas:
Trauma, Rewind Technique (for managing traumatic symptoms)
Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Life transitions - transition to parenting
Life transitions - Perimenopause and menopause
Life transitions - Loss/bereavement (incl. Pregnancy, termination and baby loss)
Relationship issues & couples counselling
Neurodivergent experience & the challenges of living in a neurotypical world (including ADHD & Autism).
Creative counselling techniques including reflective writing/journaling.
Who I work well with
I love working with a diverse range of people. People who I work well with are those who are willing and curious to explore their issues, who want to take responsibility for themselves, and who understand that counselling isn’t about ‘fixing’.
What else you might like to know about me
I deeply understand on a personal level what it is to experience trauma, loss/bereavement, relationship challenges, lifestage challenges (e.g. parenting, career changes and peri/menopause) and I will never make assumptions about your experience based on my own.
When I’m not in counselling-mode I love being outdoors, being creative, visiting art galleries, going to gigs (CMAT is my current obsession), spending time with the folks I love, embracing my inner child and being a bit daft - humour is important to me and being in touch with it is one of the ways I know I’m well.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Level 7 Post Graduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy
- Post Graduate Certificate in Counselling Skills
- BSc(Hons) Psychology and Social Sciences
- Level 5 DipHE Antenatal Education
- Level 5 Postnatal Practitioner
CPD
- Trauma Informed Practice
- REWIND technique for trauma
- Birth Trauma
- Pregnancy loss and stillbirth
- Perinatal Mental Health
- ADHD/Neurodiversity
- Perimenopause/menopause
- CPTSD complex trauma
- ASIST suicide prevention training
I've worked in several different counselling organisations across Cardiff including the pregnancy and baby loss charity The Junction, Connections Cardiff (drug & alcohol recovery) and currently Platfform Wellbeing.
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
Photos & videos
Fees
£60.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I understand therapy is an investment and am happy to work with you to keep it affordable.
Single sessions are £60. You can save £20 when you block book 4 in-person sessions at £220.
I have a couple of reduced rate spaces for counselling students please enquire.
