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I meet with people Monday to Thursday, on mornings, afternoons and evenings.  

I have been working as a counsellor and psychotherapist in Edinburgh since 1996. I have extensive experience in working with individuals and groups, and I'm trained in Gestalt, Trauma Therapy and Family Constellations Therapy.  People who engage in therapy with me experience reduced levels of distress.  They also develop an enhanced capacity to live their lives in a meaningful and satisfying way as a result of the work we do together. 

In addition to working as a therapist I have in the past worked as a counsellor trainer and have managed a national counselling service.  I am a member of Trauma Training in Scotland and I am committed to constantly updating my capacity to help people by attending professional development workshops in Scotland and Germany.

Therapy is concerned with our relationship to the world, and our relationship to ourselves. I can work alongside you to help navigate a difficult patch in your life, or to seek to resolve a long-term or even life-long issue or issues.

This may involve coming to terms with a painful family history, a search for meaning and direction, or exploring how to be in relationship with another and yet still be your own person. It may mean starting to look carefully and compassionately at buried trauma, or learning how to believe in yourself and your perceptions; in your own sense of what is right for you.

Our work together may also involve seeking to understand and ameliorate the impact of painful personal patterns: a tendency to depression for example, or ongoing difficulties with anxiety. Many of us develop an inner critical voice which attacks and undermines us, in which case our work together would involve learning approaches towards stilling this voice.

In all my work, I am aware that the body and the mind are inextricably interconnected. Anxiety, for example, isn’t just a psychological experience, but can include a fast beating heart, a churning stomach, and/or other symptoms. Where appropriate, my approach to therapy includes psychoeducation about how the brain and body respond physiologically to stressors, and body-based exercises designed to reduce the impact of such symptoms.

As a result of the work we do together, you will find increased self-knowledge and self-acceptance. You may also access the clarity to find and speak whatever is true for you.

I am very aware that it takes courage to approach a therapist, and to discuss deeply personal matters with another human being, even if that person is professionally trained. Whatever the issues you bring, I undertake to work with you to the best of my ability in a non-judgmental and compassionate manner.

The session starts with some statements I need to make about confidentiality within the counselling room, and the few limits to confidentiality.

After that, the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the initial session will involve the collection of  basic information on your day-to-day life including contact details, living arrangements, family structure (past and present) and work. I will also ask if there are any medical issues which may be significant in terms of the counselling relationship.  

Following this, we will explore what you would like to look at in counselling, and what you hope to gain.  We will identify some of the areas of your life and your past you'd like to explore, as well as some of the personal difficulties you find yourself experiencing. You may feel like you'd like to get to know me a bit better before identifying deeper issues: trust needs to grow. I will not be demanding or intrusive.

One of the main aims of the initial session is for you to decide whether you would like to work with me, and another is for me to see if I think I can help you make the difference in your life which you would like to make. If you decide you don't want to work with me, or you'd like some time to think about it, then that's fine. In the event that you decide against working with me, we will go our separate ways at the end of the session and I will destroy any notes I've taken.

If we decide to work together we'll discuss practical details including when you can be available to meet and frequency of sessions, and the date and time of our next session.

Clients usually find that initial sessions are useful.  The act of identifying difficulties is often the start of seeing how to manage them.  I can also offer perspectives which can help people to see things in a different light.  There can be a sense of peace.