About Me
Training and experience
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I have a PGDip in Person-Centred and Experiential (PCE) Psychotherapy, having trained and qualified with the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute (SPTI) in 2022. The 4-year training was inclusive of over 450 hours of clinically supervised psychotherapy practice and encompassed weekly personal therapy throughout.
I have worked extensively with people who have suffered complex trauma including in childhood and in intimate partner relationships, many who have been given various diagnoses including PTSD and complex PTSD, mood disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse and dependence disorders.
I have many years experience working with people experiencing loss, grief and bereavement. This may follow the death of a loved one, a significant person in their life or a pet. Feelings of loss and grief are not only experienced in relation to death, but may be experienced in relation to various major life events such as divorce, children leaving home, loss of a friendship, relationship or job. We may also experience loss in relation to our identity, health, sense of security, or for what we haven’t had or received in our life (eg. the unconditional love or safety we may not have had as a child).
Professional memberships
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I am a fully accredited member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and a graduate member of the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute, Nottingham. I meet their respective rigorous standards of professional practice, abide by their ethical codes and always ensure my work is appropriately supervised.
A bit more about me..
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in understanding people, guiding me in the choices I have made in my personal and professional life. As a young adult, I worked as a support worker in various mental health settings, in palliative care and alongside people with complex needs. I then trained and worked for many years as a prison psychologist, working with men and women across several prisons.
As I strived to balance the demands of family life, with my passion to support others in my work, I went on to work in primary education as a teaching assistant and offering one-to-one support to children with neurodiverse conditions and learning difficulties, before becoming a teacher.
Through all my experiences, I have been consistently struck by our capacities and resources as human beings to find constructive ways through even the most difficult of times, when we have the right kind of support around us. This understanding, along with my values and my heart-felt desire to understand more about how best I could support people in my personal and professional life, led me to the person-centred and experiential psychotherapy training at Sherwood Institute. Through my training, I have worked with many amazing people struggling and suffering in various ways with different issues, and I have experienced how building a genuinely warm, safe and non-judgmental relationship, is how and where change and growth becomes possible.
