About me
"I am an experienced, fully qualified integrative counsellor offering specialist support to people navigating life's challenges and difficulties. As a mature counsellor with extensive experience working alongside individuals in distress, I have developed a deep commitment to understanding people as they experience themselves, rather than through assumptions or expectations.
I believe that a strong therapeutic relationship forms the foundation for meaningful change, healing, and personal growth.
My aim is to provide a safe, compassionate, and non-judgemental space where you can feel truly heard, seen, and understood. Together, we can explore what is happening in your life, both externally and within your inner world, helping you gain a deeper understanding of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
Many of my clients tell me that counselling has given them the opportunity to feel genuinely listened to, understood, and accepted – sometimes for the first time in their lives. I believe that when we are able to explore our emotions, beliefs, coping strategies, relationships, and personal history with curiosity and compassion, we can begin to understand what may be limiting our ability to face life's challenges. Through greater self-awareness and insight, new possibilities for growth, healing, and change can emerge.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am trained in a range of established psychological theories and therapeutic approaches, including Psychodynamic Therapy, Person-Centred Counselling, Transactional Analysis, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and psychoeducation. As an integrative counsellor, I draw upon these approaches thoughtfully and collaboratively, tailoring my work to meet your individual needs and circumstances.
My experience includes supporting clients with anxiety, depression, low mood, trauma, bereavement, relationship difficulties, life transitions, illness, identity concerns, and a wide range of emotional and psychological challenges.
I have particular experience working with adults of all genders who have experienced domestic abuse, sexual violence, rape, and coercive control. I have also worked extensively with individuals and families affected by bereavement, including anticipatory grief and loss associated with life-limiting illness.
Prior to establishing my private practice, I worked for Sunderland Counselling Service, delivering specialist counselling for survivors of sexual violence through funding provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner. I was also a member of the counselling team within a large hospice in the North East of England, providing support to patients' families, carers, and those grieving the loss of a loved one.
I hold a Foundation Degree (FdA) in Integrative Counselling from New College Durham, awarded with First-Class Honours and Distinction.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Existential issues, feelings of 'stuckness', change of life and identity issues, dealing with feelings post heart attack or after life-changing illness. Feelings of bereavement due to a 'loss of self' or 'who am I now and where did I go?'
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Concessions considered on a case by case basis.
When I work
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early morning | |||||||
| Morning | |||||||
| Early afternoon | |||||||
| Late afternoon | |||||||
| Evening |
6pm to 8pm
Further information
Many people I work with explain to me how isolating and life-restricting it has been to hold and try to cope with terribly painful experiences, associated emotions and feelings that for many reasons they have not felt safe enough to share with others. Others have struggled to find the source of their pain in a vague and confusing internal world. In my work with others, respect, care and a sense of privilege in respect to their experiences, feelings, beliefs, values, thoughts and emotions is what I offer. In my counselling work, I offer kindness, regard for others and my genuine self. People often worry that counsellors may judge them. Judgement to me is always a barrier to true understanding. What would be the value of me judging? How could I hear and understand you fully if I had decided what was "right or wrong" from my own perspective? To me, there is only "action and consequence" "rather than right or wrong". Truly trying to hear and understand a person without judgment is crucial to my true understanding of that person and by my reflecting that back to the person, it can help them to see their own experience more clearly. The ultimate goal to me is to help others find their true sense of self, away from what has happened to them, and to help unlock choice for them to define their own meaning around their life experiences. Many people find they define themselves and their worth through what has happened to them and can lose their true self and worth on the way.
