About me and my therapy practice
Following many years in paid and voluntary roles helping people to feel better about themselves, connected with their community, and the natural world I trained to be a counsellor. During my own experiences of being a client I learnt (and continue to learn) that I really value being listened to. Counselling helps me to work out who I am, how to be kind to myself, and how I want to live my life. I want to offer the same opportunity to others.
Building a safe and genuine therapeutic relationship between myself and my clients is at the heart my approach, but it is not always enough to help people feel better. So in addition I offer, in collaboration with the client, a range of theories and interventions tailored to your unique needs. I am particularly interested in compassion, living a meaningful life and the role of psychoeducation.
In addition to my private practice I work at a charity counselling adults who have experienced sexual abuse. I have over a decade of experience supporting, empowering and counselling adults around pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. I have also offered bereavement counselling with Cruse. See below for more detail.
I am a trauma informed therapist with an interest in how the mind and body hold trauma. If you have experienced trauma we will take a paced approach to the work, starting with understanding what helps you feel safe and stable in counselling, and in your life. There is never an expectation that you will talk about what happened to you, but once you feel safe enough, this may be something that you want to do. Some clients focus on how their trauma is impacting their lives now, this might involve exploring triggers and understanding the brains response to trauma.
I am invested in being an ally to marginalised communities and am passionate about educating myself. My intention is to be anti-racist and anti-disrimination.
Confidentiality is essential to the therapeutic relationship and I ensure this through GDPR compliant processing of your information.
I am accredited by the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, and work to their strict ethical standards and policies.
Perinatal
I’ve had over a decade of experience working with adults (men, women, LGBT+ and solo parents) as they navigate pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. I know a lot about the challenges of getting pregnant, giving birth, feeding babies, adapting to new roles, grieving past lives, and struggling with the reality of providing 24/7 care. I have been trained by SANDS to counsel mums (including non birthing mums) and dads and family members, who have experienced the devastation of a baby dying during pregnancy or after birth. I’ve worked for NCT (the UK’s largest parenting charity), NHS and local authorities in non-clinical roles.
Grief and bereavement
As a bereavement volunteer at Cruse. I experienced how each person’s grief journey is complex, unique and lifelong. Using grief theory, and a strengths-based approach, I offered clients the opportunity to explore how life can be lived whilst grieving.
Sexual abuse
I offer counselling to survivors of sexual abuse at SAIL in Derbyshire. Clients may have lived for many years in silence and counselling offers an opportunity to be heard. Some clients want to talk about the abuse itself, others will focus on how it has affected their lives, and how they want to move on from the physical and emotional hurt they have experienced.
Selected qualifications and recent professional development:
Professional Diploma in Psychotherapy and Counselling. NCPS. 2023
The challenge of racism in therapeutic practice: a black empathic approach to therapeutic practice. BAATN. 2024
Birth trauma training programme. Make Birth Better. 2024
Counselling parents and families following pregnancy loss and the death of a baby. SANDS. 2023
Cruse bereavement volunteer training. Cruse. 2021
Working with trauma and pre-trial therapy. Inspire CPD. 2023-4
Carolyn Springs trauma training programme. 2021-2023
What I’m reading right now:
