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I have spent most of my professional life working in Mental Health in a broad range of different settings, from the inpatient care of people with psychotic illness to educating and supporting parents of challenging children in the community.
My first professional qualification was in general nursing at University College Hospital, London, where I came in to contact with people from widely diverse cultures, religions and socio-economic backgrounds. Whilst working in nursing I became aware that my interests were more focused towards mental health and pursued further training in psychiatric nursing at The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals.
My training at the Maudsley was broad and intense, involving developmental psychology and the theories underpinning psychotherapy as well as experiential and reflective techniques, listening skills, counselling and psychotherapeutic approaches. Practical work was groundbreaking, involving a move away from medication and towards psychotherapy and group work.
During the 1980's, whilst still in London, I became interested in community mental health and left the Health Service to set up and manage a series of group homes catering to the needs of homeless mentally ill men, who were either re-homed from the streets or from institutions, via the 'Care in the Community' initiative.
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Following this I became involved with training and mediation between the Statutory and Voluntary Sectors around the provision of mental health care to the homeless population of London’s West End.
As a psychodynamic counsellor I am experienced in counselling both teenagers and adults with issues ranging from anxiety, bereavement, depression, relationship difficulties, self harm and issues of low self-esteem and worthlessness. I have experience of counselling in general practice in the NHS, in private practice, in schools and at Sussex University counselling service. I also work as a trainer for a national adoption charity, educating and supporting parents who are experiencing difficulties in their relationships with their adopted children. I have a special interest in the impact of disrupted or unhealthy attachment and the effects of early trauma on children and their families in the arena of adoption. As a psychodynamic counsellor I believe that our past experience impacts on our present relationships in ways that we are unaware of, or are difficult to understand. Exploring with clients how their past plays out in their present, so that unconscious patterns and triggers might become conscious, enables greater self awareness and creates the possibility of real change taking place.
As a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy I adhere to and am bound by its ethical framework for good practice. |
