I am a fully qualified Psychotherapist with a Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2017) from the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy (CCPE) in Paddington, London.
I have been a member of UKCP since 2017 and abide by their Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. For more information, click this link.
I am fully insured, and DBS checked.
The type of psychotherapy I offer falls under the UKCP umbrella of the Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy College (HIPC).
My approach integrates learning and skills from 5 years of psychotherapy training and 7+ years of private practice. I have recently completed a Research Masters in Psychotherapy titled ‘Dyslexic or a Human Being? A Transpersonal Perspective on Labelling’. Specifically, my research explored my own experience as a person with a dyslexia diagnosis (given age eight) and how the ablest systems that we are measured against can cause feelings of shame, inadequacy and lack of confidence. I also explore how a dysregulated nervous system can make it much harder to carry out challenging tasks such as reading and writing and how, with the help of a ‘regulated other’ in psychotherapy, we can learn to self-regulate. Tools that aid this are self-compassion practices, breathing practices and somatic practices, to name a few. When we are able to self-regulate, it is easier to achieve difficult goals and be in challenging situations.
I have more than eight years of previous experience practising as a yoga instructor and hold a degree in Fine Art. I like to encourage my clients to use whatever medium they favour to help the therapeutic process – this might mean using breath, movement and relaxation techniques as well as using art materials to express ideas and thought where words are hard to find.
I taught English to foreign students from 2007 – 2009 and speak basic Spanish (I am not quite fluent enough to conduct a full therapy session in Spanish, but I do have a good grasp of the language).
I am currently volunteering with the Margate based charity A Perfect Place To Grow and participating in an Intermediate Training Programme in Non-Violent Communication and Conflict Resolution with Yoram Mortensen.
Main Qualifications:
Master Of Arts In Transpersonal Counselling & Psychotherapy
with Distinction 2023-2024
Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy and UKCP Accredited Professional PostGrad Dipl 2017
RYT200 (Registered Yoga Teacher) 2009
Fine Art BA (Hons) 2006
CPD (Continual Professional Development):
Addiction. Affliction? Or a guide to wholeness? – Lynn Somerfield
Art therapy with young people who self-harm and/or express suicidal ideation – BAAT
Attachment Theory in Clinical Practice (short course) – Orit Badouk-Epstein at The Bowlby Centre
De-escalation Training alongside other induction training with the NHS
Certificate in Clinical Assessment Skills – WPF
Implicit Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology – Abi Blakeside
Lasting Love with Esther Perel – The School of Life
Nonviolent Communication, ‘Connecting in Conflict’ – Yoram Mosenzon
Shame Matters Conference – The Bowlby Centre
The Hungry Ghost, A Biopsychosocial Perspective on Addiction… – Gabor Mate
Total Yoga Nidra Teacher and Facilitator Training – Uma and Nirlipta Dinsmore-Tuli
Wholeness in Fractured Times – a real-world understanding of the nervous system and feminine sexuality & Activate your Inner Jaguar – Kimberly Ann Johnson
Well Women Therapy – Uma Dinsmore-Tuli
Wild Power: Embrace your menstrual cycle, reclaim the feminine path to power – Alexandra Pope, Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer
Workaholism – Gabor Mate – Confer
Yoga for the Mind Conference – The Minded Institute
Yoga for ME and Chronic Fatigue – Fiona Agombar
Some environments I have worked in:
As a Psychotherapist:
Private Practice: 2017 – current (sabbatical taken to complete Research Masters in Psychotherapy)
Facilitation of Second Year Gestalt Psychotherapy Module of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Diploma, CCPE, 2021-2023
Women and Health, A Women only community-based health centre offering NHS-funded, where I provided short-term Counselling and Psychotherapy. Camden. 2016-2019
FreshStart Psychotherapy, A community Interest Company offering low-cost, where I provided long-term psychotherapy. Paddington. 2017-2019
Neuropsychiatry Outpatient Ward, where I provided both short-term and long-term psychotherapy, Kent and Medway NHS. Sevenoaks. 2014-2016
The Caravan, Drop-in counselling and psychotherapy service where I provided both drop-in, short term and long-term psychotherapy. St James’s Piccadilly. 2014-2016
As a Yoga Teacher:
Self-Employed: I have experience hosting and facilitating day, weekend and weeklong yoga workshops and retreats, as well as regular weekly yoga classes where I learned to manage a range of needs in a group situation. 2010 – 2019
NHS: Teaching Yoga to male residents of a psychiatric recovery unit and resident women on an acute psychiatric unit within the NHS Mental Health Trust. 2010-2014
Body and Soul Charity: Teaching yoga and volunteering with adults living with HIV and AIDS. 2012
Other interests:
From an early age I have expressed myself through the body, music and art and feel this mode of expression is helpful in accessing seemingly inaccessible thoughts and feelings where words might be insufficient. I am interested in the symbolism and phenomenology of our individual lives and the culture we live in and how in exploring our ‘symptoms as symbols’, we have a tool to discover what our unconscious is trying to communicate.