I'm particularly interested in the stories we tell about ourselves: who we decided we had to be, what we concluded was safe to want, and what those old conclusions are still costing
Some of that was formed before you had words for it. Some of it was formed by the culture and family you grew up inside. Very little of it is chosen
About me and my approach
I'm a UKCP-accredited psychotherapist and Certified Transactional Analyst (Psychotherapy).
Transactional Analysis is a very broad modality: different practitioners practice in different ways. My practice is typically psychodynamic and existential.
Psychodynamic means I'm interested in what isn't immediately obvious — in the parts of your inner life that operate outside your awareness but shape your choices anyway.
Existential means I'm equally interested in what you're facing now: freedom, limitation, loss, mortality and the question of what you want your one life to be for.
I work relationally. That means I don't sit outside your experience assessing it — I'm in the room, affected, and willing to think with you about what happens between us. It also means I take my own responsibility in that seriously, through regular supervision and my own therapy.
I came to this work after fifteen years as a solicitor, which taught me a good deal about how people cope, what they hide, and the cost of holding it all together.
Training
Certified Transactional Analyst (Psychotherapy)
Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Transactional Analysis (4 years)
Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Counselling and Psychotherapy (2 years) including advanced training in models of grief and loss
Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (accredited by BACP, 2 years)
My psychotherapy training and qualification requirements included: 4 years of taught psychotherapy qualification to a Master’s level; UKCP Mental Health familiarisation placement; over 750 hours of clinical practice prior to certification; 1 supervision hour for every 6 hours of clinical practice throughout training and personal weekly psychotherapy for a minimum of 4 years.
I am currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Counselling & Psychotherapy and my research interests include psychotherapy training, critical thinking and reflexivity, enactments and the use of artificial intelligence.
Further training includes
Facilitating group therapy
Somatic Transactional Analysis
Diversity within Contemporary Relationship Therapy: Working Alongside Trans, Non-Binary and Questioning Clients; Other Loves: Polyamory, Polygamy and Arranged Marriages; Kink; Bisexuality and Sexual Fluidity; Neurodivergence, Sex and Relationships
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Couples Institute in the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy: Integrating Attachment, Differentiation, and Neuroscience in Couples Therapy
I undergo regular training to support my practice. Workshops I have taken include menopause and neurodiversity.
Experience
Over 15 years’ experience working as a Solicitor before my change of career
LGBT+ helpline volunteer
Volunteer and freelance youth worker
College counsellor
Volunteering in adult counselling and psychotherapy services
Workshop facilitator in secondary schools