About me

 

I'm an experienced therapeutic counsellor providing counselling from my private practice in Bedfordshire. I offer short-term and long-term counselling to adults and young people (aged 18 and above). 

 I work with individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and try to hold in mind the collective concerns we are experiencing right now (political division, economic instability, climate change and the rise of AI to name but a few), and to understand how this cultural backdrop impacts you as an individual and interacts with both your personal history and the current concerns that bring you into therapy.


I have a special interest in the areas of: 

  • Anxiety (including general, social and health anxiety and panic disorder)

  • Bereavement (including complicated grief where the relationship with the person who has died was not straightforward or where others may not see or acknowledge the scale of loss that has occurred)

  • Infertility and loss (including primary and secondary infertility, miscarriage, parenting after infertility and stopping treatment)

  • Life crisis (which may occur at a particular age or life stage or as the result of a sudden unexpected change in circumstance)

  • Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria or RSD (which may be experienced as part of being neurodivergent or following a previous traumatic experience or experiences of rejection)

Where I work
I currently work in private practice from my therapy room in Bedford town centre. I also work for the not-for-profit agency, Bedford Community Counselling.

Previously, I have worked as a schools counsellor for the mental health charity MIND and as a bereavement counsellor for CRUSE Bereavement UK. 

Other areas of work
Prior to training as a counsellor, I worked in a range of communication roles, including as a writer and editor, and have written much on the emotional and psychological impact of infertility and fertility treatment. 

 Membership
I am an accredited member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and adhere to its codes of practice and ethics.

​I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and comply with GDPR regulations. I also hold an enhanced DBS certificate. 

Qualifications 

PG Certificate in Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling (Level 7) 

BACP Accreditation

BACP Certificate of Proficiency 

Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (Level 4)

Certificate in Counselling Skills (Level 3)

Introduction to Counselling Skills (Level 2)

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Specialised training

  • British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA) Foundation course

  • Awareness in Bereavement Care (CRUSE Bereavement UK)

Continuing training

Having been particularly inspired by existential philosophy, I have been enrolled in a doctoral programme in Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling since 2018 at Emmy Van Deurzen's New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling in north London. 

Research

As part of the above programme, my research project explored the experiences of counsellors and psychotherapists in their own personal therapy - a subject that I feel is integral to the delivery of effective therapy. Signing up for therapy and deciding to confront one’s vulnerabilities in the presence of another human being is both an act of great courage and the fundamental challenge of therapy, and for this reason it feels important for therapists, however experienced, to remain closely connected to the experience of being a client. My research looked specifically at counsellors’ and psychotherapists’ experiences of vulnerability in their personal therapy and how these experiences have shaped them personally and professionally and informed how they later worked with their own clients.