I attended Manchester University where I graduated as a doctor in 1997. After post-graduate training and hospital work, I qualified as a General Practitioner, working in and around the South Lakes area. I was always as interested in my patients’ lives and experiences as their illnesses so after a time working as a GP, I began to learn about different therapy styles.
To begin with, I studied Transactional Analysis. I trained in this for a year before transferring my study to the Person Centred technique. I chose this because I felt that, whilst Person Centred Theory was simple, it was a challenge to get it just right. At its best, the Person Centred approach provides the optimum environment for a person’s growth and development. Onto the foundations of a Person Centred relationship can be laid other psychotherapeutic theory. It is my aim to do just that in my therapy.
I finished my Master of Arts in Person Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling, passing with distinction in 2015. my research area and special interest focussed on power relations and how they are played out in psychiatric discourse. (The idea of relational power and how it makes people feel is something which interests me still. Feeling powerless can be at the heart of people’s distress.)
For four year I worked as a Psychatrist, principally in General Adult Community work, giving me good insights into managing all the common adult psychiatric presentations. As a part of my psychiatric training, I took part in a year long Balint Group which taught me how to use psychodynamic principles to understand people. I left NHS Psychiatry in November 2015 to concentrate on my psychotherapy work.
Alongside my one to one psychotherapy work, I also work with couples. Couples therapy can be in equal measure challenging and rewarding. To support this work, I am training in Imago Therapy. This therapeutic style is all about the couple’s connection. Imago therapy provides a framework to give couples the tools to create safely and a great quality of connection within their own relationship.
All these ideas and theories come into my work. More important than any theory is having the right therapeutic relationship where you can be free to talk. Most of all, this underpins my work. The theory just helps.
People often do not know what to expect from therapy and don’t know where to start. I would always suggest that you come along for just one session to see how it feels. You might be surprised at how relaxed and easy it can be.