About Me
Professional Background
My first career was in performance and writing, which enabled me to develop a confidence in working creatively and spontaneously with groups and individuals. In my thirties, after a struggle with my own confidence and sense of purpose, I trained as a yoga and meditation teacher and then specialised in yoga for special needs and for mental health. Becoming fascinated in the relationships I developed and with the inner worlds of my clients, I decided to train as a psychotherapist. Following my completion of a Masters Degree in Integrative Psychotherapy at the Minster Centre, I gained invaluable experience in London, where I served as an in-house psychotherapist for a legal charity. I also lectured on a BSc Psychotherapy for an affiliated provider of Middlesex University. I gained invaluable experience working with various populations, including those affected by HIV, couples, transgender individuals, sex workers, and those struggling with addiction. My experience as an HIV psychotherapist helped shape my approach, blending attachment theory, trauma techniques, and relational theory to effectively support clients who had an experience of being set apart.
A proportion of my clients have been classified as ‘addicts’: human beings self medicating to deal with a lifetime of rejection, abuse and stigma. I helped to facilitate a group for gay men and MSM addressing addiction and witnessed relapse, acting out and unbearable levels of shame. In response, I designed an eight week mindfulness course for self-regulation, self compassion and nervous system education, and crafted a four week resilience program for men with attachment-based challenges, aiming to prevent relapse in addiction-focused groups. Additionally, we co-designed an ‘Exploring Intimacy’ group.
Working with Sex Workers taught me about the complexities of gender identity and the importance of considering intersectionality, specifically the power dynamic present in all relationships with potential to silence crucial voices and impede true connection, repair and change. The group work I practised drew from Bessel van der Kolk's ‘Trauma Sensitive Yoga,’ providing some innovative ways to change the body's relationship with trauma.
As a psychotherapist within a NHS CLCH IAPT primary care psychological health team, I assessed clients and offered short-term counselling contracts of 6-10 weeks. This work alerted me to the dedication of NHS workers, trying to find a way to still serve clients’ needs within a system bending under bureaucracy and never ending cuts to funding.
I have reached Senior Yoga Teacher (SYT) level, with a specialisation in using yoga therapeutically with disability and mental health. My work, often with non-verbal clients, emphasised embodiment and the use of yoga and mindfulness to foster resilience. I no longer teach yoga but my experience carries forward into an embodied approach with psychotherapy clients.
I continuously expand my expertise through courses, workshops, and up-to-date research, ensuring I provide fresh and thoughtful therapeutic support tailored to every individual’s needs. I am currently involved in research into the process and effects of psychedelic therapies.
My first work as a therapist was in training, working with survivors of domestic violence. The women I met during this time taught me so much about resilience and the complexity of an abusive dynamic. I now work as Trustee to a Domestic Violence charity, which in some way I hope gives back the generosity offered to me by my first clients.
Qualifications and Training
- MIND Foundation - Professional Member
- Psychedelic Assisted ACT Psychotherapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training - ACT (Psychworks)
- Advanced Creative NonFiction Writing Diploma (Cambridge University)
- EMDR Therapist Levels 1 - 4 (EMDRWorks)
- Spiritual Threads in Psychological Work (Confer)
- Eco - Therapy Training (Confer)
- BPS Approved Certificate in Clinical Supervision
- M.A. Integrative Psychotherapy (Middlesex University)
- Advanced Diploma Integrative Psychotherapy (Minster Centre)
- Post Graduate Diploma Integrative Counselling (Minster Centre)
- Foundation Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy (Minster Centre)
- Mentalisation Basic Training (Anna Freud Centre)
- Yoga Alliance UK Accredited Senior Yoga Teacher SYT (CCU & Minded Inst.)
- Restorative Yoga Teacher Training (YogaCampus, Roger Cole)
- Yoga Therapist for Mental Health (Minded Inst.)
- Yoga Therapist for the Special Child (S.Sumar Method SYC)