The Therapy Space

I work in a lovely peaceful room in the garden of a small farm in Leatherhead, Surrey.   It is private and comfortable, with the amenities you would expect, and is also relatively accessible for people with limited mobility.  Call me to discuss your needs.   We are on the edge of an extensive network of footpaths for further reflective tranquil space before or after a session, and also have unlimited parking.  We are about a ten minute walk from Leatherhead train station.



My Training

I did my core training at The Northern Guild for Psychotherapy in Newcastle.   This offers a Humanistic and Integrative training, with a core modality of Transactional Analysis (often referred to as TA).

I recognise that this is probably meaningless, unless you have also done some training.   So what does it mean?  Humanistic practice means we meet as equals, with the explicit intention of exploring your potential.  You are expert in your own life, not I, and I will always respect this. 

Integrative means that I have experience of, and am able to use, techniques and models from many modalities.   These may be creative techniques like sand play or drawing, story telling or writing, or maybe cognitive methods or we may explore spiritual issues.  I have trained in EMDR, for use with old or recent trauma.  We may work on your confidence to increase your income…no issue of yours or tool of mine is out of bounds.

Transactional Analysis is used in education, business and therapy.  It is a series of models that illustrate how we interact with one another, and since the 1960s has grown and changed and is widely used and understood by many practitioners.  It was created using normal language, with very few specific technical terms, so it’s easy to explain and understand, though it is subtle and complex in its application as well.

While CPD (continuous professional development) is a requirement of remaining accredited, I’m famous amongst my colleagues for being a bit overcommitted to CPD. I’ve discovered a format of longer trainings in a committed ongoing group is hugely rewarding, and over the past few years I have been brushing up my skill set with:

Trauma Training.

I did Miriam Taylor’s first Trauma training some years ago, and feel confident about identifying and approaching most trauma experiences as a result.

EMDR.

Having done a classic EMDR training I have discovered an alternative presentation by Laurel Parnell, which I have studied and continue to learn about online and in print. I’ve used these different techniques extensively over a number of years, with fantastic results. It’s a creative process, gentle and kind, and mostly it’s enjoyable for both me and my clients.

IFS. (Internal Family Systems)

I do in person, self study online, and reading on this, the big ‘new’ psychotherapy modality. I don’t use it exclusively, however it’s an extremely rich addition to my existing toolkit.

Neurodiversity.

While I’ve always been a keen consumer of neuroscience, enjoying finding evidence to support observations, when I read Gabor Mate’s book on ADHD I experienced a personal epiphany…. I was that child. I now find myself with a significant proportion of neurological divergence amongst my clients, who feel ‘met’ in a way that isn’t always their experience.

After school and university in Scotland, I moved to work in London in housing, but stropped off back to Edinburgh when Mrs Thatcher decided to sell off our social housing stock. Subsequently I’ve worked in manufacturing (I’m dogged by my first post uni job on a bottling line, and I found myself working a bottling line on Christmas Day 2022!), catering, hospitality, business management and now as a therapist.

I’ve travelled extensively and lived and worked all over the UK, and I’m delighted to be settled my special corner of the Surrey Hills. I cherish the chalk downland and ancient woodlands, especially their unique plant life.

Off work I entertain myself by dog walking, swimming, cook and reading (fiction and work books), studying (that’s not really work….), meeting colleagues and friends.