My Approach

Our experience of life, especially through childhood, can affect how we think, feel and relate, both towards ourselves and others.

Some of the impact of life experience can be straight forward to manage. More subtle personal consequences, of which we are less aware, can also occur. We go along with life and then find ourselves feeling and behaving in ways which we don’t like and don’t understand, but which we feel unable to change.

How can psychotherapy help? Speaking regularly with a trained psychotherapist can help us understand ourselves. This develops our self-awareness so that we can come to comprehend:

*who we are as individuals,
*what our life experiences and our relationships mean to us, and
*the ways in which our particular experiences may be affecting us.

Sometimes personal and relational problems arise through unconscious responses to unexpected life events (such as a bereavement, a health problem or redundancy). Talking therapy can help us come to terms with change and loss. With time, we can learn to adjust to new circumstances, bringing a renewed sense of vigour and interest in life.

Other issues can be more deep rooted and related to the make-up of personality. Some individual characteristics and ways of reacting to life develop through early experiences of relationship in the family, and then become established through patterns of relating with others (e.g. at school). It is not surprising that relating regularly with a therapist over a period of time can be an effective means of exploring and treating these issues.

Psychotherapy provides a nurturing environment, involving an on-going conversation with a trained practitioner. This aims to help make sense of troubling issues, bringing significant personal development and an increased sense of meaning. Psychotherapy is something we take an active working part in, rather other kinds of help and support which are prescribed or given.

Important ways to access therapeutic help come from:

* the ongoing regular commitment of meeting together as client and therapist,
* talking with and listening to one another, to establish and maintain the therapeutic relationship,
* speaking about personal experiences and difficulties,
* exploring and coming to understand personal experiences, with the help of the therapist.

Over time, we can begin to reflect on and recover from difficult life experiences. In this way, a talking therapy provides an opportunity to see ourselves from other perspectives. Gradually, in day-to-day life and within therapy, old patterns of relating can be given up and new ones can be developed.

When you contact me, I would usually arrange an initial business meeting within a week or so. There is no fee for this meeting. This 50 minute session provides an opportunity to explore whether, how and when we might work together. This session also offers an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have about psychotherapy.

Arrangements such as availability, regular appointment times, affordable fees, frequency of sessions, payment arrangements, and similar issues can be discussed at this point, but are usually best left until after the first couple of sessions when we will more of a sense of your needs. The first few sessions provide an opportunity for you to speak about what has been troubling you, both recently and in the past, and to discuss what type of psychotherapy might be most useful for you. Fees for regular appointments are thought about together and mutually agreed after our first few meetings.

Fees typically range between £70-£110 depending on frequency, your ability to pay, whether we are working short-term or long-term, and a number of other factors. Fees remain negotiable throughout our work together.

With a background of nearly thirty years experience, I work with adults as a Jungian analyst, psychotherapist, group analyst and Mentalisation Based Treatment (MBT) practitioner. I provide a variety of ways of working therapeutically with:

* individuals
* couples
* families and
* parents with infants under 12 months.

About Me

Currently I am working in person, online (Zoom) & by mobile phone. For those able to attend locally, I work in person from my Grasmere consulting room.

I have worked in counselling and psychotherapy agencies, the NHS and private practice. With a free initial meeting for all enquirers, I offer affordable, confidential psychotherapy and Jungian analysis.

Although I usually work person to person, I have extensive experience of and enjoy providing online psychotherapy, supervision, and reflective practice for other professionals, staff teams and organisations.

My therapy and supervision interests are general. However my specialisms include depression; generalised anxiety; relationship and couple problems (particularly intercultural relationships); Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; personality disorder and mental health concerns; perinatal mental health and the parent-infant relationship (parents with babies under one year; spirituality and religious issues.

My training in mentalization based therapy and my NHS experience means I can provide a specifically tailored therapy for depression, relationship issues and borderline personality disorder. I am registered as an accredited practitioner of Mentalization Based treatment with the British Psychoanalytic Council. For further information, please see: http://www.bpc.org.uk/MBT

I work with

• Couples
• Families
• Groups
• Individuals

Special Interests

Like all UKCP registered psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors I can work with a wide range of issues, but here are some areas in which I have a special interest or additional experience.

Types of Therapies Offered

• Group Analytic Psychotherapist

What I can help with

• Abuse
• Addiction
• ADHD
• Adoption
• Age-related Issues
• Anger Management
• Anorexia
• Anxiety
• Bereavement
• Bulimia
• Bullying
• Cancer
• Chronic Illness
• Cultural Issues
• Depression
• Domestic Violence
• Eating Disorders
• Employment Difficulties
• Gender
• Health-related Issues
• Identity Problems
• Infertility
• Mental Health Issues
• Online Counselling
• Parents
• Phobias
• Physical Abuse
• Post-Traumatic Stress
• Private Practice Issues
• Race Issues
• Relationships
• Sex Problems
• Sexual Abuse
• Spirituality
• Stress
• Suicide
• Supervision
• Terminal Illness
• Trauma