About me

After completing a degree in Psychology I decided to go on to train as a psychodynamic counsellor, which I completed in 2009. 

The core of my clinical hours initially started at Sutton Counselling Service where I worked as a Psychodynamic counsellor, assessor, then also running my private practice from 2018. From 2019 I decided to dedicate my time to my private practice as I do to this day.

Although my core training is psychodynamic, over the years I have adapted my approach through experience and continued professional development and so I bring in relational, existential and person centred approaches depending the needs of each client.  

I'm a firm believer that despite my training and theoretical understanding my initial focus is to sit with each client firstly as a fellow human being, not as someone who is 'the expert''. My training, knowledge and experience are of course invaluable but as each and every one of us is unique with our own set of experiences the first stage of the therapeutic process is for me to listen, learn, and explore what is going on for each client at this time. My intention is for my clients to feel truly heard and seen. It is through this starting point along with my knowledge base that my clients and I can begin to develop an understanding of how their whole life experiences and relationships have influenced the struggles they experience in the current day. 

I believe that by understanding our difficult feelings we can begin to process them, unlock the power they hold over us and begin to move forward feeling less fearful and more authentic. Without doing so we can feel stuck which can lead to depression, anxiety and a range of behaviours and habits like addiction, self harm, obsessive behaviours, thought rumination and so on. Although, these may be behaviours that try to help us cope with our emotions in the immediate they end up causing us further distress in the long run. So therapy can also be a place to explore new coping strategies.

Over the years I have worked with a wide range of people from a range of ethnic backgrounds, cultures and religions, who have sought help for many concerns ranging from depression, anxiety, relationship issues, trauma, addictive behaviour and more. I have worked with young people from the age of 17 up to senior years. I have also worked with people who are neurodiverse (Autism, PDA, ADHD, dyslexia). Also those exploring thoughts and feelings about their identity specifically in relation to their gender and sexuality.

Each of these groups I have referred to above have met with unique challenges, yet despite their differences, I have recognised that the most common shared experience has been a struggle to feel understood, and a hesitancy to reach out and open up. 

A huge proportion of my client base have felt that they have had to manage their difficult feelings alone, having to mask to fit in or appear to be ok. When we feel down we often retreat, avoid contact with others, and I have found that when this happens the counselling room has been the only safe place to share with another.  With time and through this unique therapeutic relationship so many clients have built a stronger and more robust sense of who they are, making the world a less scary place to be, moving from being in survival mode to instead being able to open up and start to re-connect to others with less fear.

Above all else we must try to remind ourselves of how natural it is to need help at times. Sometimes we might be able to find that help from the people in our lives and sometimes we need to find it in a professional capacity. The first step is to reach out and ask for it, whoever it is that you chose to open up to, its crucial for our wellbeing that we do.