About
Joya believes that therapy offers a compassionate and creative space where individuals can explore their experiences safely, make sense of their emotional world, and reconnect with their sense of identity beyond addiction or trauma.
Joya’s specialist areas focus on the integration of art psychotherapy within addiction and substance misuse treatment. Her practice bridges directive and non-directive approaches, offering a flexible, client-responsive modality that addresses the complex emotional, cognitive and identity-related challenges of recovery. She recognises the transformative potential of art therapy to externalise shame, foster identity reconstruction and enhance emotional expression, with the strength of the therapeutic relationship central to effective outcomes. By combining structured psychosocial interventions with creative therapeutic exploration, Joya supports a person-centred, multidisciplinary approach that enriches the recovery journey and promotes sustainable change.
Joya specialises in supporting individuals with dual diagnoses, trauma-related presentations, anxiety, depression, and complex emotional and relational difficulties. She supports individuals to explore underlying patterns of shame, attachment wounds, identity struggles and unresolved trauma that often sit beneath substance use. Her approach is compassionate, culturally-informed and trauma-aware, creating a safe space where clients can process difficult experiences through both verbal reflection and creative expression.
She offers art psychotherapy for adults, alongside group facilitation and recovery-oriented therapeutic programmes. Her work integrates creative expression with evidence-based addiction treatment models, supporting both emotional exploration and sustainable behavioural change.
Position at Priory
Joya is the addiction therapy programmes lead at Priory Hospital Bristol. She is a qualified art psychotherapist and integrative counsellor, having qualified as a counsellor in 2010. She is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and is a full member of the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). She brings over a decade of experience working across the NHS, prison services, community settings and private practice, integrating psychotherapy with structured recovery models.
Research Interests
MA dissertation: A critical literature review examining the integration of art psychotherapy within drug and alcohol recovery treatment models.
Service improvement project (with Hannah Nettie, Sarah Stacey and Emma Griffiths): Evaluation of the effectiveness of a psychosocial group programme within an inpatient detoxification and stabilization unit, conducted as a service improvement initiative.