Working With Me

I offer an individualised, caring, effective and evidence based service, helping you to achieve your goals.

About me

I am a Consultant Psychologist with over 30 years experience in the NHS and private practice. During that time, I’ve worked with people from many different walks of life, including clients who work in finance and banking, Legal Profession, IT, the Civil Service, the media, the pharmaceutical industry, management consultancy, transport and the public sector.

I offer both Psychological Therapy and Business Coaching. Through therapy, I work with people on any issue that is causing them distress or difficulty. In Business Coaching, I help people to develop their professional goals, plan their career, improve work performance, and generally be happier and more productive at work.

Accreditation and qualifications

I am an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society AFBPsS and a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), with dual chartering as a Counselling and Health Psychologist. I have two additional specialisms: Systemic and Family Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), at Consultant Level training and accreditation.

I have professional accreditation with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).

Working With Me

Depending on your location and the kind of service you need, I will always try to see you as soon as possible.

When you speak to me about making an appointment, I’ll explain the next steps to you.

These include sending you an appointment confirmation letter, registration information sheet (electronic or paper) to record your basic details, as well as further information about cancellation of appointments.

To preserve your privacy, I always do this under plain cover, or to your chosen e-mail address.

I specialise in working with adults and tend only to see you if you are aged 18 and above.

I will discuss confidentiality of appointments with you.

Types of Therapy

Therapeutic approach depends a great deal on the individual and the issue, but there are three particular approaches that inform my work.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Third Wave CBT including Mindfulness, Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT).

CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts affect our mood and our behaviour. We use the experiences from when we were growing up to develop conclusions – beliefs and assumptions that we use to try to make sense of ourselves, other people, and the world. If we encounter experiences such as bullying, abuse, or excessive criticism, we are likely to develop negative or unhelpful core beliefs or assumptions. Later in life, these beliefs or assumptions may be activated in certain situations, resulting in us thinking, feeling and behaving in ways that may further elaborate unhelpful thoughts and feelings.

CBT helps to look at, and eventually break, these apparently automatic thought patterns, leading us to be able to react more calmly, rationally, and thoughtfully to the situations we encounter through understanding our ‘triggers’.

CBT has developed over the years to include a ‘third wave’ of CBT approaches. These include Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Compassion-Focused Psychotherapy (CFT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). These approaches focus on us developing in the areas of mindfulness, acceptance and compassion, leading to a greater tolerance of our distressing thoughts and feelings, leading to a reduction in psychological distress and a greater ability to engage in our life.

Systemic and Family Therapy

Systemic principles are useful with individuals, couples and organisations.

When working with individuals or couples, Systemic Therapy is especially useful when relationship difficulties cause or maintain psychological distress. It can, however, be useful for a range of other issues as well.

When working with organisations, Systemic Principles focuses on the interactional and contextual factors in the organisation and its environment.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a psychological treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other disorders which occur as a result of exposure to trauma, such as car accidents and assault. EMDR is based on the theory that, when a traumatic or distressing experience occurs, it can overwhelm our cognitive and neurological coping mechanism. The resulting memory and any associated stimuli related to the trauma cannot be processed, and are likely to return intrusively to cause repeated distress – often without the person realising the cause of these apparently-unrelated thoughts, feelings and even physical symptoms. The goal of EMDR therapy is to help the person to process these distressing memories, reduce their influence, and allow adaptive coping mechanisms to be developed.

Individualised, caring, effective
and evidence based service…

the use of EMDR has completely changed my life around for the better
March 2024