I offer confidential sessions for both individuals and couples, which can either be short-term work on specific problems, or longer-term work on more deep-seated personal issues. I specialise in sexual and relationship difficulties, but am also accustomed to dealing with a wide range of issues, such as low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, stress, bereavement, trauma, study or career difficulties, and the psychological and emotional consequences of abuse. I aim to listen to you in a non-judgmental way and to provide a consistent and reliable resource that will enable you to understand and accept yourself better and gain a greater sense of control over your life. Clients say that I am someone with whom it is possible to be at ease and to speak openly about troubling and sensitive matters.
I have over thirty years’ experience as a counsellor and psychotherapist, and am registered as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), as a Senior Accredited Counsellor with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and as an accredited member of ATSAC (Association for the Treatment of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity). I am a member of the European Society for Sexual Medicine, also of the Specialist Treatment Organisation for Perpetrators and Survivors of Sexual Offending (STOPSO), and a trainee member of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for the protection of personal data.
Since the COVID crisis, I have been working by Zoom rather than meeting clients face-to-face and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. This is a mode of therapy that I have used for a number of years and it is possible for effective therapeutic work to take place. I have completed over 100 hours of training in online counselling and will continue to offer this mode of therapy for the foreseeable future.
Working as Principal Adult Psychotherapist with a Mental Health Team and as Senior Counsellor in an NHS Counselling Service, as well as over 25 years in Private Practice, I have had considerable experience in the supervision of experienced counsellors, as well as helping trainees and those new to the profession develop their skills and self-confidence. I have a postgraduate certificate in providing supervision, and see its purpose as giving therapists opportunity to discuss their client work regularly with another experienced and competent practitioner, who is trained and experienced in the process of counselling supervision. This ideally takes place within the context of a consistent and reliable relationship, and aims to enable the practitioner develop new options for managing themselves and their work with greater satisfaction and effectiveness. Varying functions can be covered at different times, including monitoring clinical work against professional and ethical standards, supporting the practitioner, with opportunity for discharge and recharge of emotional batteries, and encouraging the practitioner’s continuing self-development and training in skills, knowledge and understanding.