About Me

Questions I usually get asked are:

All fair questions. There are so many variants of psychologists and therapists, it gets confusing.

So here's how I would explain my profession:

First and foremost, I'm a psychologist. This means I am a practitioner-scientist. This is a professional who integrates scientifically evidenced theory and methods into their practice, while committing to continued research to improve their understanding of how people's minds and emotions work. Central to my practice is working with clients to develop a formulation to understand how their struggles emerged and what is maintaining them.

The 'counselling' bit describes how psychotherapeutic values and principles are integrated into my professional identity. This appreciates that human beings are complex, nuanced and need to be understood both as individuals and the wider groups they exist in. For this reason, it teaches that psychological distress is seldom a biological problem, but rather a symptom of difficulties in people's upbringing, relationships, experiences and environment. It takes a holistic approach to understanding people's emotional and mental health problems in the context of wider social, political and cultural environments. It therefore resists putting people into boxes and stays close to people's individual experiences.

'What's a counselling psychologist?'

'Oh, you're a counsellor?'

'Is that the same as a clinical psychologist?'

WHO I WORK WITH

I offer individual, couples, family and group therapy
I provide supervision for psychology trainees and practising professionals
I work with organisations to develop trauma-informed spaces
I work with people in the arts industry to apply psychological theory to enhance the creative process.

HOW I WORK

Relationships form the foundation of my professional practice.

This is because I understand problems as part of a system, rather

than solely a problem with the individual. I find this is applicable to

all areas of my work. Understanding human responses and interactions therefore underpins the breadth of my practice.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

I am a Chartered Counselling Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (DPsych)
BSc Psychology
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Complex Trauma & Dissociation
Mentalisation Based Therapy
Trauma Research Foundation's Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies

I have over 10 years clinical experience working across forensic, health, arts and charity sectors. I have specialist training in forensic risk assessment, safeguarding and sexual/relational issues, including compulsive sexual behaviours, substance abuse and antisocial behaviour.