B.Sc (Hons) in Psychology with Clinical Psychology

D.Clin.Psy Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

PG Cert in Leadership

PG Dip in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

C.Psychol Chartered Psychologist

AfBpS Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society

DBT therapist (British Isles)

Accredited by the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists as a CBT Therapist; by the Health Care Professionals Council as a Practitioner Psychologist and by the EMCC as a Senior Practitioner Coach

I’m not sure what I’m looking for…

We are all facing some unprecedented difficulties in the world today, the impact of social media and the climate crisis to name just two. It’s no wonder that levels of anxiety in teenagers, burnout in adults and mental health distress in general are reaching new heights. In the face of increasing difficulties in accessing support in public services, it’s easy to feel lost and unsure of where to look when considering support.

Looking for mental health support – for  ourselves of a loved one – can be a baffling process. It can help to look for someone’s professional experience and accreditation with reputable and verifiable bodies. I hope you’ll be reassured by my three decades of professional experience and accreditation with multiple reputable sources. I receive consistently excellent feedback from clients and client groups and I’m always working to improve my practice; to this end, I now routinely offer appointments outdoors in green spaces where the combination of movement, access to immediate and real world applications of ideas and techniques and all the benefits of being outdoors have proven extremely popular and successful.

I offer sessions that integrate the best features of therapy with coaching. This provides the flexibility of approach and avenues of support that I have found my clients asking for particularly over the last few years to help manage not just one part of a problem but to help a person feel integrated and heard. You set the goal, and then we map out the terrain together using different tools and strategies to help us navigate. As my approach is very integrative, I can help people work towards goals that may be extremely varied and don’t use a one size fits all approach.

I started my career in mental health being curious about people and wanting to help – and both of these things still drive my practice today.

Bit baffled by all the different types of therapy and therapists…

I think that’s because it can be baffling! In a nutshell, my view is that therapy and coaching are conversations about mental health and wellbeing, goals and aspirations – the different types of work are simply different lenses we can look through together to get a different and more helpful view of a problem or situation.

As an example, I work in the outdoors because clients have told me that working in green spaces (such as the Botannical Gardens, Endcliffe Park, Ecclesall Woods and longer sessions in the Peak District) allow for different conversations to emerge. I take a coaching approach to allow for the client’s thinking to emerge – your solutions to a problem are going to be much more useful than mine! I’m drawn to the cognitive behavioural approaches because I like the fact they’re very collaborative and share their model of working; I’m drawn to attachment based therapies because they make such good intuitive sense (namely that our relationships have enormous power, from our earliest ones with our carers in infancy, right through to your relationship with me in therapy). I often use techniques from Brief Solution Focussed therapy because they highlight strengths, context and solutions (rather than problems and areas of weakness) and I do like a healthy dose of pragmatism in my work to try and provide as bespoke an intervention as possible. A discussion about approaches might form part of a free 15-20 minute conversation we have before sessions start.

What sort of issues do you work with? 

Mood difficulties (anxiety and depression)

relationship difficulties

exploratory work

parenting issues

confidence/self esteem difficulties

habit disorders

complex and longstanding difficulties

transitions (becoming a parent/retirement and others)

When are you available and how much do you charge?

I am available at Cornerstone on Fridays. My fee for all sessions, whether real or virtual is £130. I sometimes have capacity to accept clients with BUPA insurance.