About counselling and psychotherapy
Counselling and psychotherapy can help clarify your thoughts and feelings so that you can make informed choices about your life. Counselling generally refers to a process that is shorter-term and focused on one particular issue or situation, for example a bereavement, divorce, or career change. Psychotherapy is often open-ended (though it shouldn't go on for ever) and more complex, dealing with long-term issues, ingrained ways of dealing with things, or deep challenges to how we see the world and ourselves in it.
In either case, the sessions are an opportunity to explore your values, challenges and strengths so that you can find solutions, or ways of coping with your problems, that suit who you are. Counselling and psychotherapy can help you identify and implement any changes you would like to make in life. People often find that counselling and psychotherapy lead to better relationships and significant reductions in feelings of distress and anxiety.
Counselling and psychotherapy do not work on a 'one size fits all' basis, but vary according to the personalities of the therapist and the client, and the issues being discussed. I will talk to you about your expectations, hopes and concerns from the beginning of our work together and discuss with you the ways we might work, and how the process can be structured according to your needs. We will agree together how to review the work and whether it is useful for you.
I have worked with people who have sought counselling or therapy for the following reasons:
diagnosed conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and OCD
sexual identity
difficult life transitions (illness, career change, culture shock)
recovery from addictions
looking for direction and meaning in life
seeking to know yourself more deeply
experiencing suicidal thoughts or impulses
worry, stress and negativity
relationship and family problems
About me
I am a UKCP-accredited psychotherapist in private practice in West London since 2011, initially as a trainee, then as a qualified practitioner after 2012. I trained at the Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy Education (CCPE) in West London from 2008-2012, then completed a research M.A. with CCPE and Northampton University in 2014.
Following my graduate research into the impact of a dreamwork method on mental well-being, I have maintained an interest in research, as well as creative ways of working in therapy, including the exploration of dreams.
In addition to my clinical practice, I am the Director of the Dream Research Institute (DRI), which supports research into the uses and applications of psychospiritual dreamwork for holistic well-being. I also teach a dreamwork course, facilitate and mark coursework and supervise trainee and qualified therapists at CCPE, which provides accredited trainings for counsellors and psychotherapists.
I was born in Canada in 1973 and lived in France for six years before moving to the UK in 2007.
