About me
My background (for over twenty years) in the Arts and my training in both Psychosynthesis Counselling and Dramatherapy means I work creatively and intuitively, enabling me to tune in to listen to you in a way that you may be seeking in your life, and may not be experiencing elsewhere.
This kind of deep listening with empathy can allow for a space to open up for you to be understood within yourself giving you a sense of more freedom of choice in various areas of life. I work relationally, or in other words, as a human with another human. Your relationship with yourself may begin to shift and deepen as a result. I will use humour and also challenge you at times out of your comfort zone if you are willing.
I believe in our ability to notice what is and isn’t working in our lives. This may seem like a small thing, but that awareness may hold all the potential for growth and change to occur. Self-awareness isn’t usually in itself enough. We then need to find the will or energy to move towards the life we want, and to become who we are. Therapy isn’t an easy choice, but then neither is suffering. Working with a therapist who can support you may mean a choice around how to deal with suffering begins to open. Therapy is a place where we can get more in touch with the roots of our suffering, where we can start to know ourselves more deeply in all our humanity, and live from that place. This ultimately means a life of more freedom, connectivity and authenticity.
This world may be on fire and often totally unfair, but if we have the access to a good-enough therapeutic alliance, we may start to build the resilience needed to live in this world, resisting and changing what we need as we go. And that change begins within us, I believe.
About Me
I am Irish, living mostly in London. I am queer and am also neurodivergent. I share this as I appreciate that when looking for a therapist, it can be good to know that your therapist may get those aspects of your identity, if these are things you are exploring, and if that isn’t the case, just to know that I’ve had experiences of having been ‘othered’. This is not to say I understand all experiences of exclusion, but that the experiences I’ve had help me see beyond the labels/facades of those in front of me, to connect with the human, whilst also acknowledging the journey and sometimes the struggle of living a life that may not fit in the mainstream.
Types of therapy or Approaches to the work
Integrative, Psychodynamic, Psychosynthesis and Dramatherapy:
I draw from different models in which I was trained, or in other words, I work in an integrative way. Using a psychodynamic approach means I tune into both the words spoken and what may be between the words, and also what is being played out in the therapeutic relationship/field. My core training was in Psychosynthesis – which is a very rounded, hopeful and beautiful modality or way of working which is also transpersonal, meaning it focuses on human potency for being able to witness ourselves and make choices based on that place of witnessing/observing or self-awareness.
As mentioned before Dramatherapy was my primary training. This is a creative way of working that can include role-playing dialogues that happen within a person, or those that happen out in the world where we get to practice a new type of expression, outcome or skill. Dramatherapy can also include drawing or other creative methods of communicating or seeing ourselves. Whilst working one-to-one it is part of my ‘toolkit’, if clients wish to work in this way.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Post-Grad Diploma (3 year course) in Psychosynthesis Counselling (level 7) from The Psychosynthesis Trust, London. Award
BACP & UKCP Accredited Course
2022-2026 (registered with the BACP) - M.A. (hons) Dramatherapy
National University of Ireland (Maynooth) – Accredited by IACAT
2005-7 - CPD training – Sexual Trauma
Psychosynthesis Trust
Giel Luichjes - CPD training – Beyond Differences: Cultural Integration in Therapy
Psychosynthesis Trust
Mike Bryant
Marginalised groups I’ve worked with
- Ace | Asexual
- Bi- | Pansexual
- Consensual non-monogamy
- Gay
- Lesbian
- Mixed-race | Dual-heritage
- Neurodivergent
- Non-binary | Genderqueer
- Queer
- Questioning
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
£70.00 per session
Further information
First point of Contact
You can book an initial free online consultation with me (a 15mins Google Meet call) where we can see if we are a good match for each other as client and therapist, and then take it from there.
Your first session
I will send you an assessment form to fill out ahead of our first session so you have some time to reflect on what it is you’d like to get out of therapy and for me to get to know you prior to our working together, so that when we do our first session we can get straight into things.
Who I work with
I generally work with individuals who are feeling stuck in some way: in jobs, relationships, ways of thinking and reacting that are no longer serving or who may be experiencing symptoms of ADD / ADHD or other neurodivergence. Perhaps you recognise you have anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome / ME, depression, obsessions, OCD, or maybe you are wishing to work on your personal development, growth or creativity. Maybe you feel you want to work through issues in your relationships, your self esteem, your sexual/gender identity and/or your spirituality.
You may be stressed, or have some trauma you wish to work through. I work in a trauma-informed way, meaning I’m interested in working with you in a non-pathologising way, and at your pace, in relation to trauma in ways that build safety, trust and empowerment.
Maybe you are dealing with infertility, grief or loss and haven’t found the place to unpack, feel or process these complex situations that can really grip us in cycles of pain and difficult emotions, that can be excruciating to even look at, especially out in the world where we’re often expected to carry on as normal after a certain period of time.
Whether in person or online I can work from a body-centred somatic approach, which may be especially useful with childhood related issues, eating disorders and physical health issues. It is not something I push for necessarily, as I endeavour to meet you where you are at, working in a way and pace that works for you. And including what is going on on a somatic level can also be applied to all presenting issues, alongside a meaning making dialogue.
