This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am a warm, caring and reliable counselling professional with a deep sense of personal and professional integrity. My formal therapy training is Person-Centred (Humanistic) with a particular interest in complex trauma, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and early life attachment.
Alongside private counselling, I have experience of working with a charitable organisation based in Chester, providing counselling to clients, children and families facing challenging issues, working with clients from NHS, local authorities and social services.
Beyond counselling, I have a background in education, teaching for over twenty-eight years, primarily working with young people in the 11-18 age range. My experience in education has given me a greater understanding of the significance of childhood adversity upon individuals. I am a certified CBT therapist with a special interest in resilience and personal growth across the life span.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications and Registrations
- MBACP-Accredited member of the BACP (2022)
- MA Clinical Counselling-The University of Chester (2019)
- Diploma in Counselling Studies- The University of Chester (2012)
- BA Hons-Psychology Degree Child Development Module, OU (2006)
- PGCE- Secondary Teaching Certificate, St Andrew’s College (1998)
- MA Politics- The University of Glasgow (1997)
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
Further information
About Counselling
If you are wondering whether to begin counselling, perhaps you have experienced the loss of a loved one, a challenge or an obstacle life has thrown up, counselling and psychotherapy can offer a safe, non-judgemental place to talk and be heard.
I work with people from all ages and backgrounds, in a variety of ways, and tailor my approach to the issues they bring, to help them find ways forward in their lives.
I work with the person, not solely the issue, and have experience of helping people with loss and bereavement, childhood trauma, relationships, sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, disordered eating, phobias, and obsessive compulsions. I work using a variety of psychodynamic models, from integrative, person-centred, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Attachment approaches to counselling. These are well-established counselling theories with many years of research behind them.
I offer an initial session, and then you decide whether you feel therapy is something you wish to embark upon, and we can move forward with a block of fixed sessions, or perhaps more open-ended work.
Whatever the reason for getting in contact, you will be met with compassion and empathy, and the space to explore your feelings and thoughts at your own pace.
Please get in touch if you would like further information about counselling and the way I work.
Ethics and confidentiality
Session content is held in the strictest confidence. There are some exceptions to this, in the event of safeguarding concerns regarding children and young people. Or where there is evidence that you or others are at risk of serious harm. In this case I will need to break confidentiality.
As part of my commitment to ethical practice, I am a Registered and Accredited member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), and work in accordance with their Ethical Framework.
I have regular formal and confidential supervision in accordance with BACP requirements with a qualified counselling supervisor to ensure the quality of my work and that I am working in the best interests of each client. I am fully insured and undertake required CPD (Continued Professional Development) each year.
