About me
I deeply care about offering outstanding therapy. This means that I see my role as being to provide what you need to change and to understand yourself better. What this means in practice changes from person to person, but I believe that I have done the work on myself to give space in the room for my client to explore what they need to. I am not rushing in, trying to resolve my own issues with you. Nor will I give ill-informed opinions on what you should do. I hope that I welcome everything that my clients bring without judgement or trying to solve their issues. Through truly being heard and cared for without condition, then we can grow.
My background is in social work and therapeutic pastoral care. Over the past few decades, I have worked in community mental health, family support and education, supporting adults, young people and families through experiences of trauma, anxiety, loss, relationship difficulties and suicidality. These years of work have shaped me both as a person and as a therapist. I genuinely believe that good therapy is the means by which we change most effectively.
I work with people experiencing anxiety, low mood, burnout, trauma, relationship challenges, or suicidal thoughts. For some, these experiences can be hard to put into words. Sometimes language can fail to convey everything we want to. One of my favourite musicians is Sufjan Stevens, and he describes words as being 'futile devices', and I think that can sometimes be true. When that happens, I improvise music to convey and experience those feelings and thoughts together.
I offer a free 30-minute session, which you can book directly below, or you are very welcome to email me. I can sometimes fit introductory sessions in gaps that aren't on my online calendar, so if you are interested but can't see a time that works for you, do get in touch anyway. Even if I am full, I will take the time to speak with you and recommend some other excellent therapists that I know that may well have availability for you. I am passionate about people receiving the best therapy.
I offer sessions on the following days and times with long breaks in between sessions:
Tuesday between 7:45am and 6pm
Wednesday between 9am and 3pm
Thursday between 10:30am and 6pm
Please click below or email oakbranchescounselling@gmail.com to book an appointment.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have been practising as a therapist for five years, and worked within Mental Health services for many years prior to that.
I have a diploma in Person-Centred Psychotherapy from Temenos Education, which takes four years part-time to complete and involved 200 hours of counselling before qualification, as well as completing a dissertation and Viva.
I also have a Master's degree with Merit in Social Work.
I am an Accredited member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP). This is a regulatory body for Counsellors. This means that I hold to a code of ethics and can be disciplined or ejected if I fail to live up to it.
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.
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
Health Insurance/EAP
When I work
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