About Therapy
I am currently not taking on new clients. However, if you would like to know more about my work as a therapist, please see below.
I am an existential psychotherapist. This means that I am interested in questions about existence: what does it mean to be you? What is that like? What matters to you, and why? Which parts of your life are serving you well, and which things need to be processed or worked through?
The majority of my work is with adults who have experienced abuse in childhood. Being abused can have a devastating impact on a person’s life, and even though it might look to the outside world as if everything is fine, sometimes it can feel like your past is living in the present with you, affecting your life every day.
If you come to see me as a therapist, you can expect us to spend time building up a relationship of trust before we begin tackling any difficult themes. I only do long-term work (usually a year or more), because working with deeply-embedded pain is not easy and takes time. We will make sure we go at a pace that feels safe for you.
Having said that, therapy is a challenging endeavour and there will be times when the journey will feel difficult and painful. This is why it is so important to build up a trusting relationship at the beginning: so that when things do get challenging, you know you can trust the space to contain whatever difficult feelings need to be held.
I work with all kinds of clients, but some areas in which I have particular interest or extra experience include:
- cultural issues
- depersonalisation and derealisation
- dissociation
- FGM
- long-term complex trauma, particularly childhood trauma
- religious trauma, including cult leavers
- sexual abuse
I am passionate about working with diverse identities in terms of gender, sexuality, race / ethnicity, belief, culture and subculture. I am kink-positive and happy to take into account the full spectrum of sexual experience, from asexuality to polyamory and everything in between. I have a particular interest in working with asexual people who need a therapist who will not pathologise their asexuality.
It can be especially difficult to talk about sexuality when you have a history of trauma, or of being shamed for your sexual identity. I work in a gentle, non-pathologising way which allows us to look at all different aspects of your identity, including sexuality, in the light of who you are as a whole person.
I am inclusive of all bodies regardless of age, ability and weight. I am fat-positive and I practise from a HAES (health at every size) perspective.
I speak English, French, Romani, Spanish and German. Sessions are conducted in English.
The Space
I work from my home, which looks like this. The therapy room and bathroom are both wheelchair accessible. I am a wheelchair user and I sit in my wheelchair during sessions.
The house is on a residential street and is usually quiet, although sometimes you might hear my upstairs neighbours going about their day. The therapy room overlooks the garden.
I am happy to discuss any accessibility requirements if you send me an email. Unfortunately I cannot accommodate guide dogs as I have a severe dog allergy.
Sessions
Sessions happen once a week, at the same time each week. Some people prefer to come twice a week. I do not offer fortnightly or monthly sessions.
If you think you might like to begin therapy with me, you can come along for a free 50-minute consultation to see how it feels. In this session you can see the space, meet me (and the cat!) and ask any questions you might have. I will ask you about what is prompting you to come to therapy at the moment and what you are looking for from our work together.
If you come for a consultation but then decide I am not the right therapist for you, then I am happy to recommend any colleagues who may better suit your needs.
I do not currently work with the following client groups:
- people under the age of 16
- companies
- couples
- families
- groups
I do not offer short-term therapy or goal-directed therapies such as CBT. The therapy I offer lasts a minimum of six months, usually at least a year.
For up-to-date info on fees and session times, please check the contact page.
Qualifications & Experience
- MA Psychotherapy & Counselling (Existential) – Regent’s University
- Certificate of Proficiency – BACP
- Foundation Certificate: Psychotherapy & Counselling – Regent’s University
- Certificado: Fenomenología Existencial: Aplicación a la Psicoterapia y las Relaciones Interpersonales – Asociación Latinoamericana de Psicoterapia Existencial (ALPE)
- Safeguarding Children – Stop It Now!
- Child Sexual Abuse And The Internet – The Lucy Faithfull Foundation
- Eradicating Child Sexual Abuse – The Lucy Faithfull Foundation
- Child Trafficking: Safeguarding Children: Advanced Level – ECPAT
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP). I am an individual member of the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA), Pink Therapy, the Institute of Recovery from Childhood Trauma (IRCT), and Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility (PCSR).
My interest in mental health goes back a long way. While I was doing my A-levels, I arranged for a local accredited psychotherapist to train a group of sixth form students in basic counselling skills and set up a peer group listening scheme for pupils in the younger year groups to come to at lunchtimes. The scheme was a great success and is still running today, almost two decades later.
Before training as a psychotherapist I was a computer crime investigator specialising in crimes against children. Alongside this work I was a volunteer counsellor on the night shift at Childline.
Whilst training as a psychotherapist I worked as a counsellor with Headstrong Counselling, and as an honorary psychotherapist at Oxleas NHS Trust.
Ready to book a consultation? Send me an email!
