About me

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I have always been interested in human behaviour and strive to understand how the meaning that we apply to our past experiences impacts on the way we live our lives in the present moment.  I have a Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences, Social Services and Psychological Counselling and I practice a holistic approach to counselling.  I use techniques and strategies that are based in neuroscience and mindfulness practices such as ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).  ACT is a humanistic approach that teaches people to work with difficult thoughts and emotions so that they can embrace their life experiences with openness and curiosity and cultivate psychological flexibility and self-acceptance.

Another therapy that I’ve found particularly effective when working with neurodivergent people is IFS (Internal Family Systems).  IFS is a systems based approach that assumes that everyone has multiple parts or subpersonalities that constitute an organised system.  As we go through life, we develop parts of ourselves that help us to deal with stressors and traumas.  These parts help us to cope with difficult situations in the moment, but can be problematic when not fully resolved.  So we seek to understand the roles that parts play and to upgrade them so that they can function optimally in our system.

More recently I have been working with an Autism Charity to provide post diagnostic counselling support to people who have received a late life autism diagnosis.  I help people to understand and process their diagnosis and provide psycho education and practical tools that they can use in their daily lives.  I also present workshops designed to teach parenting strategies and skills to parents of neuro divergent children, and communication and relational skills to couples in neuro diverse relationships. 

In my private practice I work mostly with neuro divergent individuals and couples.  When someone gets a late life autism or ADHD diagnosis it brings new information into a relationship which can be very unsettling.  But it can also provide an opportunity to get greater insight into the relationship dynamic.  While there are many very successful neuro divergent relationships, some couples find that they struggle to understand each other’s behaviours and intentions, particularly when one partner is neuro typical and the other neuro divergent.  So it can be helpful to look at certain characteristics that can typically show up in those relationships with a view to finding greater understanding and creating more harmony in the relationship.  

Ways of Working

With individual counselling I aim to provide you with a non-judgemental, confidential opportunity to explore personal and relational issues in safety with a view to empowering you to obtain clarity and insight and to develop solutions that enable you to move forward.

When working with couples my aim is to understand the dynamics of your relationship and to help both partners to make changes without placing blame on the other so that past hurts and traumas can be repaired and healed, and so that you can both move forward in the relationship with better skills and more realistic expectations of each other.

The Types of Issues I Support Neurodivergent Clients With

• Trauma
• Inter-personal relationships
• Relationship issues
• Parenting
• Post-diagnostic support

Qualifications

Bachelor of Arts (Health Sciences and Social Services) in Psychological Counselling

Additional CPD Specific to Neurodiversity

• Working with neuro divergent couples and relationships – Aspire Autism Consultancy
• Best practice when supporting autistic clients – Aspire Autism Consultancy
• IFS Immersion: Integrating IFS across clinical applications – PESI UK
• PSYCH-K® Basic Level – PSYCH-K® London
• Level 2 Care Certificate (including modules on Safeguarding and Autism Awareness)