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I consider the quality of the relationship, and awareness of the process in the therapy room, to be essential for change to take place. My first aim in therapy is therefore to build a firm relational foundation, based on mutual trust and respect, creating a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space for you to explore your thoughts and feelings.  As well as my private practice I work within the NHS providing therapy in a specialist eating disorders clinic seeing clients presenting with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. I have also worked for several years at a a Womens' Centre helping clients with a variety of issues.

All of my work is underpinned by my interest in the impact of childhood experiences, historical family issues, social and cultural issues and diversity on self esteem, relationships at home and at work, identity and psychological wellbeing.

I provide therapy for people who come to me with many different problems including anxiety and depression, low self esteem and relationship problems (at home and at work).

We will initially explore how your problem is affecting you at the moment. Through this we will be able to discover what is currently keeping your problem going and see what can be be done to stop what may have become a vicious circle.

Past experiences often play a part in the development of the problems listed above. You might be unaware of, or be struggling to acknowledge, the extent to which your past is impacting on you on your life now. Many experiences, for example, childhood trauma, affect psychological wellbeing and can play a significant part in the development of your problems. I am experienced in helping clients explore their past, helping them make sense of how this has impacted on the way they are now and enabling them to make lasting change.

The therapy process is one in which we work together, at your pace, on the issues that you choose to bring. Our first aim will be to build mutual trust and respect, creating a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space for us to explore your thoughts and feelings.

A solid relational foundation

The quality of the relationship, and awareness of the process in the therapy room, is essential for change to take place. The relationship you have with your therapist is important for two reasons.

Firstly, it is essential for you to feel ‘safe’ with me so that you are able to reflect and explore thoughts and feelings that you have without fearing judgement.

Secondly, through an open, honest and authentic relationship with me, we will be able explore how you relate to others outside the therapy room. Patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving are often played out with me in the therapy room. This allows us to explore your experience ‘in the moment’, in real time which allows for much greater awareness to be developed.

Transactional analysis

We may draw on the theories of Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy to help us to understand why you feel, think and behave as you do in response to particular situations.

Transactional analysis is a form of psychotherapy that, amongst other things, provides us with an understanding of the development of the personality. This enables us to understand our relationships with others. It also enables to us explore patterns in our lives such as strings of broken relationships or lost jobs.

CBT

We may also use techniques from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to challenge your assumptions, thoughts and beliefs and gently encourage you to make changes to your behaviours. With CBT we would be working mainly in the here and now exploring the factors that are keeping your problem going rather than looking back at what caused the problem in the first place.

My models of supervision

My supervision practice is based on Hawkins & Shohet’s (1985) Seven Eyed Supervision Model although I also draw on the developmental model of Stoltenberg & Delworth.

Hawkins and Shohet’s Seven Eyed Model is widely used, offering a relational and systemic exploration of the client, therapist and supervisor, the relationships between them and the wider organisational context. 

My therapeutic orientation 

I consider myself to be a truly integrative therapist with a post graduate diploma in transactional analysis, a diploma in integrative counselling and extensive additional training in, and experience of delivering, CBT based therapies within the NHS. I also have extensive experience of time limited therapies though my work with EAPs and applying various modalities to this context of work.

Workplace experience

As well as my work in the NHS and for EAPs I have been running my own successful private practice for the last 7 years as well as having previously gained experience working as a volunteer at a Category C male prison and at the Stockport Women’s Centre. 

Specialist areas

I have extensive specialist knowledge of working with eating disorders having spent 8 years employed as a psychological therapist in an NHS Adult community ED service and am trained in both CBT-E (Oxford CREDO) and MANTRA (MANTRA4NHS). I also have a special interest in the impact of childhood abuse, relationship and family issues on psychological well-being. 

Supervision

I can offer you a free phone call /zoom call to explore the possibility of working together. This will give us both the opportunity to ask any questions we may have about each other and for us both to decide if we feel we can work together.