It may sound a bit cliche…… but I always remember being interested in trying to understand people and their motivations (well back to my late teens anyhow). I’d considered studying psychology, however opted for Law and after a brief detour soon realized it wasn’t for me and developed a career developed in Human Resource Management. Once again I found myself interested in the aspect of the role that focused on trying to understand people’s motivations and the impact of their personal life on work and vice versa. This is the spark that finally ignited my training in therapy.
My experience since than has been offering one-to-one therapy in various therapy agencies and organizations including NHS Talking Therapies as well as setting up my own therapy practice since 2014. I’ve worked with: clients who are desperately trying to externally show a picture of togetherness but who inside are overwhelmed with levels of responsibility, worry and feel on edge all the time; client who show symptoms of health anxiety or social anxiety or OCD but can’t stop focusing on and acting on their anxiety and express living a restrictive life; client who believe they aren’t good enough or valued or loved and who try so hard to shirk these beliefs but are left not knowing or liking themselves feeling anxious and depressed; clients who through life circumstances just don’t know who they are and want to explore and re-discover themselves.
My experience of offering therapy to clients is that through sharing their thoughts and feelings, they can get to know themselves and openly and honestly explore aspects of themselves that they aren’t satisfied with and decide for themselves but what changes they want to make in their lives to reduce feeling exhausted or anxious all the time and to appreciate themselves. Below is a list of my qualifications but over and above these I’m warm, show curiosity to what you bring to our sessions, am down to earth, believe in working with you at your pace and professional at all times.
My Qualifications
- BA in Law and Languages – University of the West of England, 1995
- MA in Human Resource Management – Metropolitan University, 2000
- Certificate in Counselling Skills – CONEL College, 2010
- Diploma in Person Centred Counselling – Metanoia Institute, 2014
- Post-Graduate Diploma in CBT Therapy – Royal Holloway, 2023
Further Training
- Competency in using Psychological Tests
- Inaugural Conference for Counselling for Depression
- Anxiety and Panic Attacks
- Affective Neuroscience and Attachment Theory
- Domestic Violence, Trauma and Person Centred/Humanistic Approaches
- Dealing with Distress – Working with Self-harm and Suicide
- Counselling and the Autistic Spectrum
- Working with Relational Trauma: Dealing with Disorganised Attachment
- Bereavement Training
- Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy