UKCP Registered & MBACP Psychotherapist, Adult Psychotherapist, Child, Adolescent & Family Psychotherapist, Adoption & Looked After Child (LAC) Specialist, Clinical Supervisor, Trainer & Consultant
Life is a universally shared experience of the inter-dependence of relationships.
Caring for, facilitating independence and helping people to reach their potential, regardless of age or vulnerability has been the theme of my working life. My early work in care planning and teaching of independence skills invoked my interest in working with a person’s internal world and this led to my initial Counselling training.
The importance of family and community connectedness focussed my career on Child, Adolescent & Family Psychotherapy, which is now my specialist area. I gained extensive experience in private, public and voluntary organisations including NHS primary care and mental health, education, community based family centres, major children’s charities and in private practice.
In Surrey Adoption & Permanency I developed effective attachment focussed interventions, specifically for attachment disordered individuals, which crucially do not isolate any member of the family unit. In Surrey Assessment, Consultation & Therapy (ACT) I worked forensically with young people who demonstrated sexually harmful behaviour and/or have offended. I have worked with children, young people and with families in inpatient treatment settings (therapeutic community) who have abusive dynamics which resulted in the demonstration of sexually harmful behaviour. As a consultative Psychotherapist I also worked at residential therapeutic parent and baby unit, for new parents with behavioural issues.
I have developed my role as a trainer and lecturer in Child, Adolescent & Family Psychotherapy with post-graduate and MA students. I enjoy developing and facilitating bespoke and innovative training and workshops for therapist professionals, mental health & social worker teams, birth and adoptive parents and foster carers in areas where specialist interventions and knowledge are necessary including domestic violence, child and youth offending and complex trauma.
I am dedicated to professional and personal development through experiential and academic learning and continued professional training, to ensure the highest standards of practice. I have attended Dr Patricia Crittenden’s Attachment & Psychopathology and the full Dynamic Maturational Modal of Attachment & AAI training. I completed advanced practitioner training in structural dissociation, trauma and eating disorders which has enabled me to provide effective therapeutic interventions for people who have experienced significant trauma. I am now in the final year of four years of Psychodrama Psychotherapy training with the Northern School of Psychodrama. This UKCP accredited training has enabled me to integrate my Jungian Depth Psychology training into Psychodrama Group Psychotherapy.
I regularly attend Clinical Supervision, personal therapy and analysis. I am committed to equal opportunities policy and I value the importance of understanding and respecting diverse cultures, beliefs and difference. I abide by the UKCP & BACP code of ethics and those of the other professional organisations I am a member of, and registered with. I hold an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check and I work within organisational policies and boundaries, and the Children's Act 2004.
C G Jung (1947) valued the expression of people’s stories as this led to insights into the internal world and how in turn life experience shapes our external world. My work is grounded in Jungian & post Jungian thinking and development. Fundamental to this is meeting people with genuine non-judgmental openness and acceptance, with compassion and care and with a respect for their unique experience and way of being.
I work with adults of all ages, with children and young people and with couples and families from diverse social, cultural and faith backgrounds. I have practiced for over 15 years and I established my private practice at Holistic Health Centre in 2003. I provide confidential Psychotherapy & Counselling, Family Facilitation and Group therapy, together with specialist creative therapy. I am a certified member of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and I am registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
I specialise in many areas of adult Psychotherapy including dissociative identity disorder, Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder, eating disorders and addictions, domestic violence and sexual abuse, complex trauma and Forensic analysis. I have undertaken specialist training in effective ways of working with, and processing trauma, including Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR), structural dissociation and complex trauma training.
With children and young people I primarily specialise in parent-infant or child relationships and family attachment and functioning. In private practice I work with adoptive families and with children and young people in foster care who are experiencing difficulties in forming positive healthy attachments, partly due to early life trauma or abuse. I work closely with social services and local authority child care services around the UK, in a Psychotherapist and Consultant role. I also work with young people in the criminal justice system.
Couples and families can experience repetitive or unhealthy ways of relating which may be hard to address without support or assistance. One of the hardest and at the same time most rewarding things we do is to be in long-term relationships. I work with couples and families to explore what is happening together, and to work towards finding different ways of communicating and behaving. Discovering we can’t be all things to each other can open up new ways of accepting and understanding each other.
I develop and facilitate a range of innovative group therapies including the monthly Adopter’s therapy group and the creative action method based Men’s & Therapist’s Psychodrama therapy groups. I provide individual and group Clinical Supervision for therapy professionals and Reflective Practice for social workers, healthcare workers and other aligned professionals.
In private practice I work with clients face to face, in exceptional circumstances I can offer therapy sessions via telephone or Skype. We are all different and I work with clients for both the long and short term.
We are born into existing landscapes and from these our identities emerge.
Therapy can help us to embrace and see ourselves, and enable us to explore how we may carve out new territory within the landscapes of our lives. Reconnecting to ourselves enables us to connect with others in a way that feels comfortable.
My approach is to aid an individual’s or family’s integration and appreciation of all aspects of themselves into a healthier and more productive way of living, by finding or restoring balance in the relationships with themselves and with others. My role is to facilitate a process and a journey, to help achieve personal goals or desired outcomes, and we will work collaboratively to identify themes, issues and patterns of relating and behaving. I adopt a flexible and open working style, while at the same time ensuring appropriate boundaries are respected and maintained.
We are all unique, and we each bring our own unique stories and experiences to therapy. I understand and appreciate the importance of working at a pace to suit individual needs. I work to build trust, safety and confidence before traumatic experiences, which may be conscious or yet to be acknowledged are explored or worked through. By making connections in a nurturing and supportive therapeutic relationship, the exploration of our inter-dependence with others can lead to new awareness, insight and behaviour which can be a restorative and reparative experience.
Psychotherapy isn’t always about words because sometimes it can be difficult to talk. When we are stuck we are unable to access our ability to be spontaneous or creatively problem solve. Anxiety can lead us to mistrusting our own spontaneity, actions or decision making. I am passionate about the healing capacity of our own creativity and spontaneity. Over time I have integrated creative methods into traditional talking Psychotherapy.
Archetypal Jungian Sandplay, Play Therapy & Theraplay® encompass all ages and allow symbolically and somatically held information to emerge, which helps to identify and make connections with ourselves and with each other. Creative action based Psychodrama, especially suited for group and family therapy, allows us to have conversations with our inner dialogue and world in a creative and spontaneous way. I engage with my own reflective creativity, spontaneity and playfulness, while providing a safe and containing therapeutic space.
Adult Individual Psychotherapy & Counselling
Child & Adolescent Therapy
Clinical Supervision (Individual or Group)
Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Forensic Psychotherapy
Family & Couples Therapy
Family Facilitation
Jungian Archetypal Sandplay Therapy
Parent & Infant or Child Therapy
Play Therapy
Men’s Psychodrama Therapy Group
Monthly Adopters Group
Therapy Professionals Psychodrama Therapy Group
Theraplay®
Addiction
Adoption & Looked After Child (LAC)
Attachment Disorders
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Autism (Child, Adolescent & Adult)
Bipolar Disorder
Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy
Chronic Illness & Chronic Pain
Complex Trauma
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Domestic Violence
Eating Disorders including Anorexia Nervosa & Bulimia
Family Therapy & Facilitation
Gay, Lesbian & Transgender
Gender Related
HIV & Aids Related
Identity Disorders
Infertility
Schizophrenia
Sexual Abuse
Sexual Issues
Structural Dissociation
I offer a range of professional services in the areas of assessment, people management and training, conflict resolution and mediation. For more information please visit my dedicated website;
Adoption & Looked After Child (LAC) Assessment & Consultation
Bespoke Training & Workshops for Private, Public & Voluntary Sectors
Conflict Resolution, Mediation & Group Facilitation
Forensic Assessment, Psychological Evaluation & Expert Witness for Court
Reflective Practice for Caring Professionals
Parent & Sibling Assessment
Risk Assessment
Certified member of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP)
Registered Psychotherapist with the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists (UKCP)
Member & Registered with The London Post Adoption Centre (PAC)
Member of The British Association for Psychoanalytic & Psychodynamic Supervision (BAPPS)
Member of The National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA)
Member of The EMDR Association for UK & Ireland
Member of The Theraplay Institute
Member of The British Psychodrama Association (BPA)
I practice at Holistic Health Centre during weekdays, Monday to Friday with appointments available between 9:00am and 9:00pm. Early morning appointments can be arranged subject to availability.
If you’re interested in working together please telephone Holistic Health Centre on 01483 724300 or send a brief email to [email protected] and I will then make contact for a brief chat. If after speaking you would like meet for an initial appointment, I’ll be pleased to arrange this.
A minimum of 48 hours’ notice is required for the cancellation or reschedule of an appointment, or full payment is charged. Cancellation notice can be given by telephone 01483 724300 or by email [email protected] thanks for your co-operation.
For more information about me, private practice therapy, professional services, consultancy and Expert Witness please visit my dedicated website;
