About me
I am a qualified Psychotherapist, who trained at the Tavistock clinic in London, the principal clinic for psychodynamic training in the NHS. And I’m also qualified to work with children and families.
I’m setting up my Ashburton consulting room again after a sabbatical break, And I am now seeking referrals from adults of all ages for psychodynamic psychotherapy. I have a lot of experience in both short and long-term work and I’m happy to offer a short assessment period in order to assess with the client, what is likely to be the most helpful approach to their particular problem.
I also have a lot of experience of working with couples, whether or not they have children. Being part of a couple, inevitably puts each person in touch with parts of themselves established in their own childhoods, which can throw up quite significant problems which it can be helpful and a tremendous relief to be able to share with a trusted therapist. And often becomes a life changing and positive event for both participants.
Due to my Tavistock training, I am also able to offer therapeutic help for families.
when children are experiencing problems, I always initially seek to understand this in relation to the overall family set up, so I will always begin by working with the parents and children together and in a lot of cases this is the most economical and effective way of helping the child. In more puzzling cases I can offer a state-of-mind assessment in order to work out the best way of proceeding.
Training, qualifications & experience
Following an honours degree in Theoretical physics at Bristol University, and then a postgraduate certificate in education, I worked in special education, and then in a therapeutic community for problematic adolescents. In order to deepen my understanding, I then undertook a six year psychoanalytic training at the Tavistock Clinic in London. I then worked in child and adolescent mental health services and have a very wide range of experience working with every kind of psychological and developmental disturbance in all members of the family. I’ve also worked in consultation with other agencies, to develop innovative services, particularly in the field of looked after children, where I have developed and run training programs, both at an academic level and inservice training.
In private practice, I also work in short and long-term individual psychotherapy with adults of all ages. Starting with parental couples, I’ve also developed a special interest in couple therapy and providing short-term work to help couples with severe problems decide how to proceed.
After the NHS, I developed a private consultancy service, offering consultancy to statutory bodies and independent sector children’s services and continued to offer individual and group psychotherapy. For many years, I provided services to the Southwest circuit of the courts as a “court expert” witness. I have continued to teach within the psychodynamic field, including in the psychoanalytic doctorate program at Exeter University.
Member organisations
The ACP is the registering body for NHS trained Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists. ACP members undergo a minimum 6 year training; two years at Masters level then 4 years full-time clinical in the NHS qualifying in a Doctorate Level course. Full members are able to work with neonates, mothers & babies, parents & toddlers, primary school age children & adolescents. 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 - £80.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
For regular psychotherapy I send a monthly invoice by email which in most cases can be paid by BACS. One-off consultations are charged individually.
For couple therapy and consultation on how to proceed in acute situations, the fee will be worked out on an individual basis
When I work
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I offer some flexibility in working hours and dates in discussion in individual situations
Further information
For initial contact, telephone, text messages and email are all fine. Leave a short message and I will then phone back for a brief discussion and to set up an appointment.
Regarding current working practices:-for individual psychotherapy, where possible I work face-to-face and with young children this is generally essential . For parents, teenagers and adults, zoom sessions can work very well, and also for consultations. The best guide of course, is the experience of clients which we work together to keep in mind.
