About
I am a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)-registered art psychotherapist, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) and lifespan integration therapist. I have many years of experience helping people who are encountering adversity and pain. Issues include anxiety, depression, abuse, bullying, relationship problems, sexuality, low self-esteem and grief. I have extensive experience of working with addiction and general psychiatric issues in residential rehabs and counselling services. I have personally been privileged to witness countless people transform their lives through the power of art psychotherapy, talk therapy, EMDR and lifespan integration therapy. Creating art deepens the work of therapy by allowing the unconscious to both express and process what words cannot. Many clients have reported the enormous benefits of being able to discover hidden thoughts and feelings via the fusion of creativity with psychodynamic processes. There is no prior experience or skill in art needed to benefit. Sometimes the less experience of the arts you have, the more powerful your experience can be.
I am trained to level 4 in the revolutionary new therapy of lifespan integration. This therapy powerfully processes complex experiences of trauma, such as early attachment disruptions, neglect, adoption issues, bullying, divorce and relationship difficulties. Lifespan integration enables you to develop a robust and steady sense of internal coherence, whatever your history. I am also a qualified EMDR therapist and use this powerful approach to clear the trauma charge linked to experiences you might still be holding unbeknownst to you. The intersection of EMDR, lifespan integration and psychodynamic psychotherapy offers a powerful catalyst for change.
I offer clinical supervision to counsellors, art psychotherapists and other professionals in the helping professions. I provide reflective practice and I facilitate arts-based stress and trauma process groups for organisations. I provide therapy sessions for students who are working towards a career in art therapy or counselling/psychotherapy.
Alongside seeing people privately, I work part time as a forensic psychotherapist with the NHS. I have delivered trauma processing groups and addiction art psychotherapy groups over many years at Priory Hospital Bristol. I have practised within an NHS staff trauma support charity and I have practised in the award-winning Bristol-based young people’s mental health charity, ‘Off The Record’.