What I offer

Getting in touch can be the hardest part.

It's very typical to feel hesitant, or to have drafted the email several times.

Before we meet

Contact me to arrange a first session. I'll confirm the time and send you what you need (the address, or a link if we're meeting online) along with my contract.

I no longer offer an introductory call beforehand. I found that a short call didn’t really offer a real sense of each other, and that a full session does the job much better. That's why the first session is half the usual fee: it's an opportunity to find out how I work before committing to anything.

On the day

The session lasts 50 minutes.

I'll ask what brings you now — and "now" matters, because whatever prompted you to make contact this month rather than last year is usually significant. We'll talk about what's troubling you, some of your history and circumstances, and what you're hoping might be different.

You don't need to prepare. There's no correct order to tell things in, and you don't need a coherent account. If you find yourself unable to say anything much, that's okay too. We’ll go at your pace.

I'll ask some practical questions: your current support, your health, any previous therapy, whether you're taking medication.

And you can ask me any questions you may have.

Afterwards

The first session is an assessment for both of us. I'll say what I think, including whether I believe I'm the right person for what you're looking for. If I'm not, I'll say so and can usually help you find someone who is.

You don't need to decide anything in the room. If you'd like to go ahead, we'll agree a regular day and time — the same slot each week — and begin.

If you decide not to, that's completely okay and you're under no obligation. The research is consistent that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of whether therapy helps.

Finding the right fit is worth the effort, even when the right fit isn't me.

Most counselling and therapy on offer today is designed to be brief and to target symptoms. That has its place. But depth psychotherapy works from the belief that a good deal of human difficulty isn't a symptom sitting on the surface.

Unconsciously, we hold a script of how to be, who we are, how others are. Formed early, repeated, reinforced and largely outside awareness.

Depth psychotherapy works with the unconscious

Much of what governs us isn't available to ordinary reflection.

We avoid what once overwhelmed us, and we go on avoiding it long after the threat has passed. We adapt to the environment we grew up in and then take that adaptation everywhere.

Psychotherapy is where those things become visible — and, in becoming visible, become open to change.

My core training is in Transactional Analysis.

My practice is mainly psychodynamic and existential. I have also completed certifications in somatic Transactional Analysis, interpersonal neurobiology and gender, sexuality and relationship diversity therapy.

For more details of my certifications, take a look at my About page.

Individual therapy: £63 per session
I have a reduced rate for UKATA/UKCP trainees
I offer the first individual therapy session for half the usual fee

Group therapy: £27 - £30 depending on the type of group

Mondays: Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy, 454 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M21 0BQ. This location is close to Chorlton tramstop and bus links.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: Didsbury Counselling and Therapy Centre, 212A Burton Road, M20 2LW. This location is close to Burton Road tramstop and bus links.

I also work online.

I am currently registered with Vitality and WPA

I also contract with employers to work with an employee for a certain number of sessions.

• Repeated patterns where you feel stuck

• Anxiety, including social anxiety, and stress

• Life changes and transitions — children leaving home, menopause, coming out, a relationship ending, bereavement, changing career or city, redundancy, retirement

• Low self-esteem and self-confidence

• Relationship difficulties with partners, friends or family; affairs and betrayals; separation and divorce

• Work difficulties, including disciplinary processes and redundancy

• Bereavement, grief and loss

• End-of-life, including caring for someone who is ill

• Questions of meaning and purpose

Many people come with something more general — a sense that something isn't working and no idea where to start. That's a perfectly good place to begin

I work with folk from different walks of life

My practice is rooted in an interest in intersectionality and the many layers of our identity whether or not labelled. That may not be why you are seeking psychotherapy - and that’s okay too

Many of my clients are from LGBTQ+ communities. I am registered with Pink Therapy and I have specific training in gender, sexuality and relationship (GSRD) therapy including relationship diversity (e.g. consensual non-monogamy) and kink

I work with a deep sense of compassion for those navigating life with Autism, ADHD, or other forms of neurodivergence

I have an ecologically-minded practice which means that I consider place, planet and the non-human in my work