Psychotherapy is about openings, not closings. It is not about normality. It is about possibilities, risks, stretching. It is about self-acceptance, mourning, sorrows, grief, encountering disappointment, daring to feel, getting things wrong. (Susie Orbach 2020)
What I can offer
There are times in our lives when we need a confidential space in which to share our difficulties. At such moments, exploring your feelings and thoughts with another person can help you understand yourself and your situation better. Whether through short- or longer-term work with me, I may help you to make possible links – present with past. This may then enable you to make small shifts, or adjustments to the way you see yourself and how you interact with others.
In my work as a therapist, I will provide a warm, safe, and non-judgemental space in which we can sensitively explore what you are finding difficult at present. In this exploration together you may find it possible to address your situation in a more playful and less rigid way, and maybe come to an acceptance of what can and can’t be changed.
My therapeutic approach
I was trained in person-centred and psychodynamic modalities at Edinburgh University and use both approaches to help understand my clients’ lives. The person-centred approach is the cornerstone for my way of being with my clients in the here and now. It is essential for the building of a trusting therapeutic alliance with relational depth. In the main body of my work, however, I lean more towards the psychodynamic psychotherapeutic approach because to better understand ourselves in the present we need to have a deeper understanding of our past. We are social beings and therefore relationship is at the centre of our psychological and personality development. We cannot escape how relationships in our early years affect how we relate to others in the present, often in an unconscious way. Through our work together we can carefully bring the unconscious into consciousness.
A bit about me
Since my childhood I have had a love of the natural world and it continues to be a source of well-being, inspiration and creativity for me. Before training as a therapist, I pursued a Doctorate in Botany, specialising in understanding how plants have adapted to challenging environments. This led to work in natural environments around the world, including studies into biodiversity loss and climate change. I have also worked as an educator with school aged children at the Royal Botanic Gardens and medical students at Edinburgh University. Training as a therapist was a natural move for me. I love and have learned so much from the rich diversity of people I have met and worked with in the different countries I have lived. It is the uniqueness of each individual and their life stories that inspires me in my work as a therapist. My love for the natural world also informs my work as a therapist. I believe that finding our love for and connecting to this “other-than-human, more-than-human world” (Nick Totton 2011) can provide us with a richness of inner resources to help us face life on the planet as we know it today and hopefully find better ways of living on it.
Qualifications and Professional memberships
Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Edinburgh University)
Registered Member of BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists)
Certified Cyber therapist for young people and adults (Institute for On-Line therapy)
Therapeutic Massage therapist (no longer practising)
Doctorate Plant ecophysiology
Specialist areas
Bereavement, grief, and loss
Abuse/Trauma
Anxiety & Depression
Relationships
Transitions/life changes/existential issues
Outdoor therapy
Breath work
