
Qualifications & experience
I have been working professionally to help people manage their distress in a range of NHS, private and voluntary settings since 1991. I am registered with two of the main UK regulatory bodies for the psychotherapy profession, namely UKCP and BPS with my qualifying training at Metanoia Institute having led to my Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy (Middlesex University).
My approach
I believe mental distress manifests when demands being made by our lives exceed our capacity to manage those stresses. At that point, we need to pay attention to our way of relating to and understanding our own mind, body and the world around us. Engagement with a professional is required because we are unable to see the wood for the trees in such matters. You may of course be wanting to access psychotherapy for your own reasons without obvious distress.
The work in psychotherapy is about developing your self-understanding through our conversations. You will want to know how you got to where you are in life and chart a different path through changing ways of relating to yourself and others. I have extensive experience of working with individuals with severe mental distress, addictions, relationship problems, issues of race, ethnicity and sexuality as well as chronic fatigue. I prefer to work long-term but am able to work short-term. I consider myself to be a psychodynamic psychotherapist influenced by Jungian and attachment-based models with awareness of CBT.