My Background & Training

“Holy listening - to listen another’s soul into life, into a condition of disclosure and discovery – may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.”

Douglas Steere

Training

I have a Diploma in Integrative Counselling from The Minster Centre (Middlesex University), “the UK’s oldest and leading integrative counselling and psychotherapy training institution”. I have also successfully completed one year's training on the UKCP-accredited Advanced Diploma/Masters course in psychotherapy concurrently with the the final year of the Diploma at the same institute. This training means I bring a depth of understanding and reflection to my work.

As part of this experiential training, which required personal therapy for the duration, I have explored my own nature and accept that, though different, it is as colourful and complex as that of my clients - I understand the powerful fears that can hold us all hostage. 

Further training and courses:

  • Weekend trainings in: Eco-Anxiety; Death and Bereavement; Skills for Trauma; Working with Erotic Charge, Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) and Domestic Abuse.

  • An eight-week Mindfulness course which used elements from both Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). These support an ability to choose how to respond, rather than being pulled into unhelpful stress reactions.

  • A 60-hour Foundation training in Focusing and Listening. This is a form of deep listening and a process of “learning to trust our inner wisdom – the sum of our thinking and non-thinking ‘knowing’” (Eugene Gendlin).

  • A five-day coaching course at ‘The School of Life’ in London: Emotional Intelligence, Relationships, Career and Creativity.

I regularly upgrade my knowledge by attending workshops, online trainings and clinical discussion groups. I have regular supervision with experienced supervisors who are aligned to my core values and approach.

I am also an accredited member of the ‘Infant Loss Foundation’ register of counsellors: working with pregnancy and infant loss, and assisting clients with subsequent pregnancies after loss.

I am committed to questioning my own assumptions in the process of understanding my clients, and to making my practice accessible to all communities, backgrounds and identities. 

I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP). I encourage anyone seeking support from a private practitioner to check that they are registered with one of the main professional bodies such as BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists), UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy), or BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council). There is no government standard of training, practice or regulation of professionals offering counselling and psychotherapy so registration with one of these professional bodies provides you with assurance of your therapist’s ethical practice.

Background

I have a Masters in Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies, specialising in Art. I have also worked in Education: teaching young children in inner-city schools in London; and teaching English as a second language to refugees and immigrants in the UK, and for a charity abroad - in a country rediscovering its own cultural and spiritual identity after decades of colonisation.

It has been important for me, having grown up in a society that offered me many unhelpful stereotypes as a woman, to learn to explore ways of being that give me a sense of agency, self-respect and purpose.

My different experiences have given me an understanding of the impact that the different intersections of our environment can have on our sense of identity. I believe that people thrive when they feel validated, are given opportunities for some form of creative expression, have a sense of belonging within their communities, and have experiences of connecting with the natural world around them.

I aim to create a practice that feels welcoming and safe to people of any gender expression, race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, relationship style, class, age, disability, neurodiversity, or spiritual background. If you have any concerns about feeling safe within the therapy space, please get in touch and we can discuss ways to help you feel supported.

“Each time you stand up for yourself, without knowing it possibly, you stand up for all people like you.”

Maya Angelou