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Current availability Monday - Friday, 8am - 6pm

My therapy is offered either online or in person at my garden office in Belper, Derbyshire.  

My approach is based in Buddhist psychology.  This means I have a particular emphasis on compassion and mindfulness.  It is also integrative - so I will work with you using whatever approaches suit you and your needs best.  It is LGBTQ+ -affirmative, intersectionally aware and neurodivergent aware.  

I have successfully worked with adults suffering from grief, anxiety, burn-out, OCD, depression and low self-esteem, people recovering from abusive relationships and people questioning or exploring their gender and sexual identities.  I have also successfully worked with older teenagers.

I have particular interests in 'masculinity', 'gay shame' and eco therapy.

Who am I?  I’m from a working class background.  I read English at Oxford and did a PGCE at Sheffield.  Before becoming a therapist I taught refugee adults and teenagers for 25 years.  I’m a practising Zen Buddhist and a published poet.  I’ve lived with my husband for the last 22 years.  None of this may be relevant to you - but all of these things inform, deepen and widen my practice as a therapist.  

I qualified with Tariki Counselling and Psychotherapy Training, tutored by Caroline Brazier, and then did a 2-year placement with Nottingham Counselling Service.

I look forward to working with you.

I provide you with a safe, deeply grounded and non-judgemental space for you to talk and explore what you need to explore at YOUR pace.  I will occasionally ask questions or interrupt for clarification.  I may make suggestions.  My emphasis is on self-compassion, mindful acceptance and the opening up of perspectives.  My aim is to help you develop your own strategies for feeling more at the centre of your own life so that you are more confident, more assertive, more at peace with your emotions and more resilient.

The work can be short or long-term, weekly or less frequently.  All this can be negotiated.

I offer a free 30 minute session, with no obligation, so that you can decide if I'm the right therapist for you.  This can be online or in person in Belper, Derbyshire.