Finding the Right Therapist Matters
Finding the right therapist isn’t simply about qualifications or experience. It’s also about finding someone you feel you could genuinely talk to.
Whether you are looking for online counselling or psychotherapy, or support to work through trauma, stress or a difficult time in your life, the relationship you have with your therapist matters. Before we begin thinking about what might need to change, it is important that you feel comfortable enough to be yourself.
Every therapist is different. This page isn’t here to persuade you that I’m the right therapist for everyone. It is simply an opportunity to introduce myself, tell you a little about who I am and how I came to do this work, so that you can decide whether I might be the right therapist for you.
My Approach
One of the things I enjoy most about this work is that no two people ever arrive with exactly the same story. Two people may describe similar difficulties, yet their lives, relationships and experiences can be entirely different. That’s why I’ve never believed in approaching therapy with assumptions or fixed ideas about what someone needs. I would much rather get to know the person in front of me and, from there, work out together what might be helpful.
I naturally ask questions. I’m interested in how you have come to experience yourself and the world in the way you do, what has shaped you, what has helped you cope and what might now be getting in the way of the life you want to live. I don’t expect you to arrive with those answers. Part of therapy is discovering them together.
Sometimes our conversations will be thoughtful and reflective. At other times they may be practical and focused on something happening in your life right now. Occasionally we will laugh together. All of those moments have their place.
If we work together, you don’t need to have everything worked out before you arrive. You don’t need to perform, find the right words or pretend you are coping better than you are. We simply begin where you are.
Why I Became a Therapist
I have always been interested in people and what makes us who we are. I tend to notice things, ask questions and want to understand what sits beneath the surface — how people connect, why we sometimes struggle to understand ourselves and how our experiences shape the way we move through the world.
Perhaps surprisingly, becoming a psychotherapist grew quite naturally from my earlier career as a scientist. I spent more than twenty years working as a Biomedical Scientist in the NHS, and that way of thinking has never really left me. I like evidence, I like understanding how things work and I am naturally analytical. Psychotherapy gave me somewhere to bring that together with something I had always been equally curious about: people.
More than fifteen years into this work, I am still curious. No matter how much theory we learn, people rarely fit neatly into it. That is one of the things that continues to make this work interesting to me.
My qualifications to date include:
- MA Counselling
- Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapies
- BSc (Hons) Psychology
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1
- Level 7 Certificate in Clinical Supervision
- Foundation Year in Systemic Practice and Family Therapy
- REWIND Technique
- Certificate in Online and Telephone Counselling
- Senior Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
A Bit More About Me
Away from work, I’m happiest doing fairly simple things. I love walking, particularly when the sun is shining, being by the sea, wandering around galleries and getting lost in a good book. I enjoy art and creativity and I’m always interested in learning something new.
I value good conversation, humour and spending time with the people who matter to me. I think there is something important about having things in life that absorb us, interest us or simply make us happy.
I’m naturally curious and probably always will be. There is usually a book waiting to be read, somewhere I want to explore or something I’ve decided I need to know more about. That curiosity is part of who I am, both inside and outside the therapy room.
Ethical & Professional Standards
- I am a Senior Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and work in accordance with its Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.
- I undertake regular clinical supervision and continuing professional development and hold appropriate professional indemnity insurance.
- If you have a concern about our work together, I would encourage you to raise it with me so that we have an opportunity to discuss it. If unresolved, you have the right to contact the BACP who will address your concerns through their complaints procedure detailed here.
- My practice is based in England and therapy services are provided under the laws of England and Wales.
Get in Touch
If you would like to arrange an initial therapy session or enquire about clinical supervision, please contact me.
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