About me

I am a Registered MBACP Accredited Counsellor, Relate trained with a Masters Degree in Relationship Therapy.

I have 24 years teaching experience holding a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education. My teaching experience includes working in schools, further education colleges, the NHS and with juvenile offenders. I currently deliver training workshops to support continuous professional development.

I have worked as a professional Counsellor since the year 2000 and have worked using integrative therapy, which is where several distinct models of counselling and psychotherapy techniques are used together to meet the individual needs of the client.

Relate trained

I gained 11 years experience in which I worked for Relate as a registered Relationship Counsellor . During that time I worked as a Children and Young peoples counsellor, Relationship Counsellor, Supervisor, and psychosexual therapist offering support to many couples, individuals families, children and young people presenting with a wide range of individual difficulties.

I am a clinical supervisor offering supervision to experienced counsellors and students working in a variety of settings including schools. I also supervise bereavement counsellors, students and support workers and provide group supervision for voluntary and private organisations.

My previous work

I have worked in both voluntary and private practice for the past twenty two years offering counselling, counselling supervision and training. My counselling career began as a bereavement counsellor and my passion for this work has recently led to me being instrumental in developing a new bereavement Service in the North of England, and also offering on-going support to individuals and their families living with critical illness, grief and loss.

My specialist areas

I specialise in working with couples, children, young people and their families. In particular I enjoy supporting parent and child relationships, and have been successful in improving the quality of both parent and child and parent and teenage relationships, enabling positive change in daily interactions. I am also registered as a LINK counsellor with Barnardo's, which means I am trained and competent in the special area of adoption support work and trauma informed adoption work..

With vast experience working in the education sector working with children and young people with challenging behaviour, I draw upon my knowledge and experience and provide children and young people with a therapeutic experience that changes their inside world.

My counselling approach

My counselling approach is integrative, which is where I bring together several models of counselling and psychotherapy techniques and approaches to meet the needs of the client. When working with children and teenagers I include the creative arts and CBT to enable an expression of feelings and a positive move towards improved well-being. I am committed to on-going self-development and have taken part in a wide range of training to enhance my client work.

My qualifications

• BACP Accredited counsellor
• Masters Degree in Relationship therapy
• Diploma in Psychosexual therapy
• Graduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling
• Diploma in Domestic Violence Studies
• Foundation certificate in Family and Systemic Therapy
• Counselling using TA (Transactional Analysis)
• CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)
• Counselling Children Certificate Using the Arts
• Working with Children using Solution Focused Approaches
• Certificate in Clinical Supervision
• CBT Certificate for Children and Young People
• EMDR Accredited Certificate 
• EMDR for children and young people
• EMDR Attachment focused certificate
• Professional Certificate in Effective Practice
• Certificate in Counselling
• Developing Counselling Skills (Level 3)
• Counselling Skills (Level 3)
• Certificate in Bereavement Awareness
• Degree of Bachelor of Education
• Advanced Certificate in Workplace Health and Safety
• Vocational Assessors award (D32 & D33)
• Certificate in Teaching Basic Skills
• Certificate in Teaching students with Dyslexia
• Certificate in Education

My training

I am committed to on-going self-development and have taken part in a wide range of professional development training to enhance my client work. The certificated courses I have attended include :-

• Working online
• Mindfulness for Health
• Working with Children Through Creative Arts
• Working with Prostate Cancer
• Working with Mental Health
• Working with Asperges in Couple Relationships
• Working with Young People with Asperges
• Working with Self-harm and Self-injury in Counselling
• Working with Suicide in Counselling
• Working with Anger in Counselling
• The Art of Therapeutic Conversation with Children / Teenagers and Parent Child Relationships
• Children and Young People - Legal Aspects
• Child Protection
• Plugged in World (Awareness of the impact of Social Media in Counselling)
• Child Focussed Practice
• Online Counselling and Text / Email / Live Chat
• Telephone Counselling
• Group Skills for Counselling Trainers
• Young Survivors of Domestic Abuse
• Understanding Sexual Addiction
• Tree of Life Through Expressive Arts
• Supervisors Safeguarding (Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults)
• Consultation with a Counsellor
• Facilitator's Certificate - Strengthening Families Programme
• Attachment Theory in the Couple Relationship
• Domestic Violence Structured Interviews
• Common Assessment Training
• Domestic Violence and the Arts
• Creativity in Counselling
• Child Sexual Abuse
• Working creatively with sand trays
• Working with Grief online
• Narcissism and Ecoism
• Working with Blocked Emotions
• Working through the menoupause
• Sexual difficulties 
• Working with affairs
• No blame divorce training
• In womb and birth trauma
• Attachment and shame
• Creative supervision