I have been working therapeutically with people for over twenty years, beginning in community arts in London and Bristol, working with marginalised groups to express and communicate their strengths, their struggles and their insights into how systems and structures could change for the better.
Gradually, I integrated my love of nature and spirit into my work, completing training as a Forest School leader, doula, and shamanic practitioner, and began to offer group and one to one sessions both privately and through community groups.
These decades of working with individuals and groups have occurred alongside an ongoing personal development journey. I believe it is essential to keep doing our own internal work if we want to be in a position where we can be beneficial as counsellors or therapists of any kind.
Counselling and Psychotherapy allow me to use the skills I have accrued over my lifetime and bring it into one place. I see clients in my private practice, while also working for a charity in Bristol, seeing refugees, asylum seekers, and women who have experienced sexual violence.
As your counsellor, I will meet you with an open mind and heart and listen deeply to your experiences, challenges, fears, struggles, pain, joy and dreams for your life. Together we can explore how things might have got stuck or feel insurmountable. Using curiosity, presence and awareness, we will start to unpick the patterns and themes that might be holding you back.
I work by integrating Psychodynamic, Gestalt and Person Centred models with a somatic, and trauma informed approach. I also use Sandtray therapy (see the sandtray page for more information).
I am committed to working with an awareness of how each of us are impacted differently by the structures, systems, society and culture that we live in, particularly if living with experiences of being discriminated against, due to disability, colour, neurodiversity, sex or gender.
Struggle comes from internal challenges as well as societal, structural, and institutional forces that are beyond our control. We are all part of different cultures, including our family, ancestral, and societal culture. The complexity of our unique make-up can bring both opportunity and oppression. Together, we can look at what makes you, you. And start to unpick how we can move towards a deeper connection to your own capacity to create happiness and wellbeing.
“Everything that is ‘wrong’ with you, began as a survival mechanism” Gabor Maté
There are many counsellors, and many ways of working, so it’s important that you choose the right counsellor for you. Contact me to arrange a free 20 minute phone call, to explore whether we are a good fit. If we choose to work together, following sessions will be £60 per session and will take place at the same time, weekly.
Counselling Training, Qualifications, and Associations
Masters in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy (Distinction)
Certificate in Counselling Skills
Foundation in Sandplay Therapy
Registered Member of BACP
Insured by ‘Holistic’
