Psychotherapist, Counsellor & Clinical Supervisor
I have worked therapeutically with people for over 25 years, and one of the things that experience has taught me is that no two people – and no two families – are ever quite the same.
I work with adults, couples, children, young people and families, and provide clinical supervision to therapists and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds.
My approach is fundamentally Person-Centred and relational. The work of Carl Rogers has influenced me throughout my career and I believe that the relationship between therapist and client is central to meaningful therapeutic change.
That doesn’t mean I use one approach for everyone. Over the years my practice has developed considerably, particularly through my work with trauma, attachment, developmental experiences, adoption and neurodiversity. I draw upon different areas of training and experience while keeping the individual person – rather than a model or diagnosis – at the centre of the work.
Working With Adults
Adults come to therapy for many different reasons.
Sometimes something specific has happened – a bereavement, relationship difficulty, trauma, illness or major change. At other times, people arrive knowing only that they feel anxious, overwhelmed, unhappy, stuck or that something in their life no longer feels right.
I offer a confidential and non-judgemental space where we can explore what is happening for you, including experiences from the past where these continue to influence the present.
I’ve worked with people experiencing a broad range of difficulties including anxiety, depression, trauma, bereavement and loss, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, abuse, domestic violence, infertility and baby loss, health difficulties, work-related stress and significant life changes.
I also work with neurodivergent adults, including people who are autistic or have ADHD, whether diagnosed, awaiting assessment or beginning to understand themselves through a neurodivergent lens.
Couples & Relationships
I work therapeutically with couples experiencing difficulties within their relationship.
My role isn’t to decide who is right or wrong. Instead, I help couples slow things down enough to understand what is happening between them – the patterns they’ve developed, what sits underneath their reactions and what each person may be trying, sometimes unsuccessfully, to communicate.
The relationship itself becomes part of the therapeutic work, creating opportunities for both people to understand themselves and each other differently.
Children, Young People & Families
A significant part of my career has involved working with children, young people and families, both therapeutically and within education.
I spent almost 20 years working across special educational needs, primary and secondary education, including behaviour support, nurture groups, in-school inclusion, school counselling and work with children experiencing neurodiversity, behaviours that were difficult to understand, school refusal and anxiety-related non-attendance.
That experience continues to influence my therapeutic work. I am interested not simply in what a child is doing, but in understanding what may be happening underneath their behaviour and what they may be communicating through it.
My work may involve the child or young person individually, their parents or caregivers, or the family together.
Adoption, Attachment & Developmental Trauma
I have extensive specialist experience of working with adopted children and young people, adoptive parents and families affected by early trauma, separation, loss and disrupted attachment.
I previously worked for an adoption agency for six years, providing counselling to birth relatives of adopted children, and have since undertaken therapeutic work with adopted children, young people and their families commissioned through local authorities.
My practice is informed by Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and attachment-focused approaches. I have completed Levels 1 and 2 DDP training and continue to undertake advanced practice development towards certification as a DDP Practitioner.
I also provide Therapeutic Life Story Work, helping children and young people explore and make sense of their experiences, relationships, history and identity within a carefully supported therapeutic process.
My adoption experience extends across different perspectives within the adoption story. I co-authored a chapter with Kim Golding in Supporting Birth Parents Whose Children Have Been Adopted, bringing together professional understanding and experience of supporting birth families.
Neurodiversity
My experience of neurodiversity spans both my therapeutic and educational work.
I work with autistic people and those with ADHD across different ages, recognising that neurodivergence can influence communication, relationships, emotional regulation, sensory experiences and the way someone understands themselves and the world around them.
I don’t approach neurodiversity as something that needs to be corrected.
Instead, I’m interested in understanding the individual person: their strengths, the things they find difficult, what overwhelms them, what helps and how their experiences make sense from their perspective.
Clinical Supervision
Alongside my therapeutic practice, I am a qualified Person-Centred Clinical Supervisorand have been providing supervision since 2008.
I supervise qualified and trainee counsellors and psychotherapists as well as professionals working within education, health and other helping professions.
My approach to supervision is relational, supportive and appropriately challenging. I want supervisees to be able to bring the parts of their work they’re proud of – and the parts they’re considerably less sure about – without feeling they have to present themselves as the perfect practitioner.
Find out more about Clinical Supervision →
How I Work
After more than 25 years in this profession, I still don’t believe the therapist should be the person in the room who claims to have all the answers.
I bring my training, knowledge and experience. You bring something equally important: your knowledge of yourself, your experiences and your life.
Therapy is something we do together.
My aim is to offer a relationship in which you feel heard, respected and safe enough to be honest – including when something is difficult to say.
There may be challenge, curiosity and sometimes humour alongside the more difficult conversations. Above all, I want the people I work with to experience therapy as a genuinely human relationship rather than something that is simply being done to them.
Where I Work
I offer face-to-face appointments from two locations:
Mansfield – Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays
I work from a private and dedicated therapy room at my home in Mansfield, with a separate entrance for clients.
Nottingham – Mondays & Thursdays
I work from Bilborough Children’s Centre in Nottingham, where free parking is available.
Online appointments are also available where appropriate.