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About me

Since qualifying as a counsellor in 1996, I have worked continuously as a psychological therapist is in a range of settings that include registered charities, private practice and the NHS. I now work solely in private practice. My last post in the NHS before I took retirement in 2020 was as a Psychological Therapies Lead. As an experienced and versatile psychotherapist, I am fully qualified and accredited as a Drug and Alcohol Counsellor and a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. I am also a fully trained Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapist. I have also much experience of working with couples and I am a fully qualified Relate trained Couple Counsellor and IAPT Couple Therapist for Depression. My training in recent years has focused on the insights and skills of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). I completed a Masters in Applied Psychology with distinction in 2003 from which I published two peer-reviewed articles. I have experience in supervising other psychological therapists and I have taught as a visiting lecturer on both the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology programmes at the University of Manchester.
I am happy to offer both face-to-face and remote appointments.
As is in keeping with my professional status, I work under clinical supervision and I am fully insured and GPDR Compliant.

Areas of interest

Firstly, I work with adults who are struggling with issues of shame, low self-esteem and self-criticism. Working with adults to free them from the devastation and toxicity of shame is very important to me.
Secondly, I work with adults who are struggling with the impact of past events which have been traumatic. Traumatic events can sometimes be one-off events such as a car accident or a robbery. However, traumatic events can also be a range of difficult (and shaming) experiences that have happened over a longer period of time, very often in childhood, such as being bullied at school or home, a parent's drinking, abuse or loss and bereavement. Because something happened in the past doesn't mean it is not causing problems in the present - in fact, very often the difficulties we experience now have their roots in our history. To achieve good mental health therefore involves appreciating and lessening the impact of these past events. .