About me
Stuck? Join the club.
We stay stuck in bad places. We gingerly touch our scars, defend ourselves. We avoid our fears and end up not feeling ourselves. Ignore the knot in the stomach. It will go away. Chin up.
The knot is a cry. We ignore it at our peril. The butterflies inside want to fly.
Therapy, ground down to its core, is a time, a place and a person safe enough - connected enough - to let a few butterflies out, to unravel the knot, to rebuild.
Should you ever feel it’s possible to give it a try, I’ll do my best to be there: to provide that connection.
People come to me for many reasons. From trauma, depression and anxiety to anger management, sexuality, relationships and addiction. Many times they come with something that does not have a label. A simple wish for change, a better life.
A bit about me.
I became a therapist because I didn’t really have a choice. Life sucked. It all seemed so pointless. I gave it a try. Then another. I failed again and again. Everyone else seemed to be doing just fine.
I heard therapists help. Do they? Muttering to myself that this is one expensive waste of time I decided to give it a try.
Nothing changed. I’m still myself. The same fears, the same scars. It feels different though. I’m less ashamed of the scars. Some of them I even like now. My fears have faded, a bit. That feeling of being heard, understood - of being able to be myself - something of that slips out, from the clinic into life.
Everything changed.
After a few years of therapy, with life continually getting better, I decided to retrain as a therapist. I scaled back my career as a product manager in a software company and started out.
My experience began in a student placement in a residential care home working with children and young adults who had been removed from their homes by social services. I came for a year and stayed for six - progressing from student to staff.
I learned the depth and darkness of the pain we carry with us and how connecting to that pain brings growth that’s beautiful, strange and powerful.
I chose bibliotherapy because life is a story. We learn from stories and think in stories.
Will I give you a poem for homework? Heaven forbid. Will we find echoes of your struggles in a tale? Will you look at your story in a new light? I hope so.
It’s hard to explain without vagueness. Confidentiality. I can’t tell another person’s tale; I’ll never tell yours. Therapy works in practice. Seen from the outside, it can be daunting. The promises so grand, the cost so high, the rewards so ill-defined.
The knot and the butterfly. If you feel them - if you need to feel them - I’m here to help.
How it works
I offer two forms of therapy: one-to-one and through correspondence.
One-to-one in person therapy
This usually takes place in weekly 50-minute sessions, in my clinic in Stroud or an online video call.
One-to-one correspondence therapy by email
Email therapy develops a therapeutic relationship through scheduled written exchanges. We agree times - for example, you write by Wednesday, I respond by Friday. Each exchange runs around three pages (roughly 1000 words).
The writing itself is therapeutic. Putting experience into words creates different access to what you're feeling and thinking than spoken conversation allows. The exchange has rhythm and continuity; you can return to previous letters as part of the work. And as with in-person sessions, stories and texts naturally become part of our written conversation - references that help illuminate what you're exploring.
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold a Master of Arts in Art Therapy (M.A.A.T.) with a specialisation in bibliotherapy from Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv, and a B.A. in English and Critical Theory from London Metropolitan University.
I spent six years working therapeutically in a residential home for children and young adults removed from their families by social services.
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
Fees
£45.00 - £60.00
Additional information
£60 per 50-minute session in person, online, or by correspondence. A limited number of concessionary places are available for those who need them; just ask. First session £35.
Further information
What is bibliotherapy?
Bibliotherapy is a creative arts practice that weaves stories and texts into therapy.
It connects to the understanding that creativity is central to self-actualisation and growth, where stories function like dreams: expressions of unconscious material that can be explored safely.
Sometimes I’ll share a poem or passage that reflects what you’re experiencing. Sometimes you’ll bring something that speaks to you. Sometimes we’ll explore the stories you tell about your own life. The bibliotherapy happens through our conversations – it's not homework or formal exercises, but a way of using narrative and metaphor to access ourselves.
