My Background & Training

“Holy listening - to listen another’s soul into life, into a condition of disclosure and discovery – may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.”

Douglas Steere

Training

I have a Diploma in Integrative Counselling from The Minster Centre (Middlesex University), which is one of the UK’s oldest and leading Integrative counselling and psychotherapy training institutions. I have also successfully completed one year's training on the UKCP-accredited Advanced Diploma/Masters course in psychotherapy concurrently with the the final year of the Diploma at the same institute. This training means I bring a psychotherapeutic depth of understanding and reflection to my work.

As part of this experiential training, which required personal therapy for the duration, I have explored my own nature and accept that, though different, it is as colourful and complex as that of my clients - and I understand the powerful fears that can hold us all hostage. 

Further training:

  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) Parts One, Two and Three Trainings (EMDR Europe Accredited). January - July 2025

  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). September - November 2016

  • Foundation training in Focusing and Listening. 60 hours - January - June 2020

  • Specialist weekend trainings in: Death and Bereavement, Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA), Domestic Abuse, Eco-Anxiety and Working with Erotic Charge. September - July 2022/2023

I regularly upgrade my knowledge by attending workshops, online trainings and clinical discussion groups. I have regular supervision with experienced and qualified supervisors who are aligned to my core values and trainings.

I am committed to questioning my own assumptions in the process of understanding my clients, and to making my practice accessible to all communities, backgrounds, identities, and beliefs.

I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP).

I encourage anyone seeking support from a private practitioner to check that they are registered with one of the main professional bodies such as BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists), UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy), or BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council). There is no government standard of training, practice or regulation of professionals offering counselling and psychotherapy so registration with one of these professional bodies provides you with assurance of your therapist’s ethical practice.

Background

Before becoming a therapist, I studied Art History and I have a Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies, specialising in Women’s Art. I have also worked in Education: teaching primary-aged children in inner-city schools in London; and teaching English as a second language to adult refugees and immigrants in the UK, and for a charity abroad - in a country rediscovering its own cultural and spiritual identity after decades of colonisation.

I have personal experience of growing up in an alcoholic home and also of the impact of having an older sibling with learning and behavioural difficulties. Discovering therapy was the turning point for me, from a life that at times had felt scary and confusing, to being able to trust the world, my ability to make choices, and to feel connected, alongside the normal challenges of life. I have deepened my understanding of the causes, impact and challenges of different types of trauma through the trainings that I have chosen to undertake. Therapists who are ‘wounded healers’ often have a hard-earned but reassuring quality of recognition and empathy, and I believe I bring this to my clients.

It has been important for me, having grown up in a society that offered me some unhelpful expectations of what it is to be a woman, to learn to explore ways of being that give me a sense of agency, self-respect, purpose and fun. This has helped me to understand how some of the stereotypes for men are equally as restrictive for them, and I see gender as a subjective experience for all. As Simone de Beauvoir famously stated, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” in 1949. This is a challenge to traditional views that is still sadly relevant today and highlights the different ways in which people (and members of the non-human world) still become positioned as ‘Other’ in relation to what is considered ‘Normal’, in order to be controlled and regulated.

My different experiences have given me an understanding of the impact that the different intersections of our environment can have on our sense of identity. I believe that people thrive when they feel validated, are given opportunities for some form of creative expression, have a sense of belonging within their communities, and have experiences of connecting with the natural world around them. I bring these values into my therapeutic approach.

I aim to create a practice that feels welcoming and safe to people of any gender expression, race, ethnicity, culture, spiritual background, sexuality, relationship style, class, age, disability or neurodiversity. If you have any concerns about feeling safe within the therapy space, please get in touch and we can discuss ways to help you feel supported.

“Each time you stand up for yourself, without knowing it possibly, you stand up for all people like you.”

Maya Angelou