About me
My approach is integrative, relational and trauma-informed, bringing together psychological understanding with an awareness of how our experiences can also be held within the body.
I draw particularly on Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Schema-informed therapy. Together, we may explore the different “parts” of you - including those that protect, strive, withdraw or carry vulnerability - as well as long-standing patterns that continue to influence how you relate to yourself and others.
I work well with reflective adults who may have coped for many years but now feel stuck, disconnected or at a turning point. You may understand yourself intellectually, or have had therapy before, yet sense that something deeper still needs attention. Therapy can offer a safe space to make sense of what is happening, soften self-criticism and develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself.
My style is warm, thoughtful and gently challenging and my aim is to create a therapeutic relationship that fosters both safety and containment. We will work collaboratively and at a pace that feels manageable, allowing space for both deeper understanding and meaningful change.
Areas of specific interest:
Life Changes, Identity & Transition
Change can unsettle our sense of identity, even when it is something we have chosen. You may be facing a relationship change, rethinking your career, adjusting to a new family role or questioning what you want from the next stage of life.
I work with people experiencing:
- Career change, professional uncertainty or loss of direction
- Relationship difficulties, separation or new beginnings
- Changing family roles and responsibilities
- Questions around identity, belonging and self-worth
- Midlife transitions and reassessment
- A sense of feeling stuck, disconnected or unsure what comes next
Therapy offers a space to pause, make sense of what is changing and reconnect with what matters to you. Together, we can explore the patterns, expectations and earlier experiences that may be shaping your choices, while helping you move towards a life that feels more authentic and meaningful.
- Anxiety, Low Mood & Emotional Wellbeing (including burn-out)
Anxiety, low mood or emotional overwhelm can sometimes arise when we have been coping for too long, living with unresolved experiences or losing touch with our own needs. Rather than focusing only on managing symptoms, I am interested in understanding what they may be communicating.
My integrative approach can help you:
- Understand what may lie beneath your anxiety or low mood
- Recognise patterns that keep you feeling stuck or disconnected
- Develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself
- Find practical ways to manage difficult emotions
- Build greater resilience, confidence and emotional flexibility
- Create changes that feel realistic and sustainable
I draw on psychological, relational and body-aware approaches, recognising that difficult experiences can affect not only how we think, but also how we feel and respond physically. Our work can help you feel safer within yourself, more connected to who you are and better able to approach the future with clarity and choice.
- Boarding School survivors
Being sent away to boarding school can continue to shape how you relate to yourself and others, even when the experience also brought opportunities or positive memories. Therapy is not about blaming parents or defining yourself as traumatised. It is about understanding what separation and boarding meant to the child you were - and how the ways you learned to cope may still affect you today.
Specialised therapy may help you:
- Understand the effects of early separation and disrupted attachment
- Reconnect with feelings and needs you learned to hide
- Explore difficulties with trust, intimacy or asking for support
- Recognise patterns of self-reliance and emotional disconnection
- Honour the strengths that helped you cope while developing greater freedom and choice
You do not need to identify as a “boarding school survivor” to explore these experiences. You may simply recognise that you learned to manage alone and no longer want to carry everything that way.
As a psychologist, former boarder and contributor to The Unmaking of Them: Clinical Reflections on Boarding School Syndrome, edited by Nick Duffell, I offer an informed and compassionate space in which the complexities of boarding can be explored without judgement or assumption.
- Alternative/ complimentary therapies
I also offer alternative therapies such as bio-magnetism and bioresonance therapy which can be integrated into the healing journey for those people who are interested in complementary body-based approaches.
My in-person practice room is located in Hove. Should you prefer online therapy, I will be happy to accommodate this via Zoom.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have worked with a diverse range of clients, in the community and in institutions. These have included working for charities - the Lucy Faithfull Foundation; Barnardo's; and for the NHS for 9 years - Bracton Centre - Medium secure hospital, Stamford Hill prison and the Worthing crisis team and acute psychiatric wards at Meadowfield. I have run my own private psychology business since 2023, operating as a sole trader.
- HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist (PYL29184) - Qualified in 2012.
- Graduate member of the British Psychological Society since 2008.
- MSc in Forensic Psychology (Distinction), Portsmouth University 2007.
- Graduate Diploma in Psychology (Distinction) - London South Bank University 2004-06
- Sociology of Crime and Deviance – Part I of Diploma in Criminology (Distinction) Birkbeck College, University of London 2003- 2004
- The Un-Making of Them’ Diploma Training in Specialist Psychotherapy with Ex-Boarders - 2024
- Internal Family Systems (Level 1) - 2025
- School of Biomagnetism training - 2026
- Trauma Incident Reduction training - 2025
- Rethinking ADHD: A new treatment approach -2023
- ADHD, Relationships and Sex: Strategies to overcome the Over/Under Functioner Dynamic - 2023
- Changing the ADHD Brain: Moving beyond Medication- 2023
- Critical Incident Stress Management - 2023
- Supervisor's training course, University of Surrey - 2023
- Salomon's supervisory training - 2016
- Mentalisation-based therapy training - 2015
- DBS cleared at Enhanced level (Children and vulnerable adults)
ICO registered
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.
The HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£120.00 per session
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
Sessions last for a full 60 minutes and there is flexibility to extend these to 90 minutes, should clients require longer sessions either regularly or on an ad hoc basis.
I offer a limited number of concessionary spaces, which can be discussed during our initial 30 minute conversation which is free of charge and without obligation.
Further information
Elizabeth Loftus Prize for the best MSc Empirical Research Project- 2007
Publications
“Factors influencing the process of change in sex offender interventions: Therapists’ experiences and perceptions”. Journal of Sexual Aggression (November 2010)
Collins, S. F. (2025) A Clinical Framework for Nuanced Narratives in Therapy with Ex boarders. In N.Duffell (Ed.) The Un-making of Them: Clinical Reflections on Boarding School Syndrome. (pp12-24) Routledge, London.
Television
Killers Caught on Camera Season 3, Episode 3 - commentary on the Marta Chmielecka case.
