Psychotherapist

I have been working as a psychotherapist for 15 years in community health settings, home visits for people who are very ill and with my own private practice. I am trained as an integrative practitioner which means I always work with a person -centred ethos and recognition of the psychodynamic influences potentially present in the different relationships in our lives.

My practice is in my home, a 5 minute walk from Haymarket, Edinburgh and at The Whole Works, Edinburgh.

I am trained in Integrated Therapy, Stress Management and Expressive Arts ways of working with Trauma.
Expressive arts therapy such as sand tray, mixed media art exploration, voice work, drama therapy and journaling, particularly helpful when working with trauma.

I can offer supportive and exploratory exercises from the Gestalt, Psychosynthesis and Community of Selves approaches. I can also offer a broad range of somatic and mindfulness exercises support drawn from my 20 years working as a massage therapist and 5 years part of the Tara Rokpa Back to Beginnings personal development process at the Tibetan Centre ,Samye Ling. Anything offered in a session is of course optional for a client.

I have worked as a Counselling Skills and Theory lecturer at Strathclyde University and Falkirk College delivering COSCA training. I also taught a Counselling Skills course for Saheliya, an Edinburgh project for black, refugee, minority ethnic, asylum seeker and migrant women and girls.

From my massage career I developed a deep understanding for the ways emotional suffering compromises physical health and I can offer somatic exercises within therapy that help re-regulate the nervous system if a client is interested.

I have extensive experience of supporting people of all ages from 16 upwards from very diverse backgrounds including BME, LGBTQ+ and refugee communities. The range of things clients bring to session with me can include anxiety, depression, PTSD/CPTSD trauma, complex family history, chronic and life limiting illness, grief, emotional and sexual abuse, addictions, self -harm, loneliness and relationship difficulties.

For the last 20 years I have worked therapeutically with groups in Edinburgh teaching and facilitating the learning of self -care tools for anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and managing chronic pain. My psychotherapy work also includes offering self -care tools if I sense this may be helpful.

My approach in all my work is to offer my compassion and active listening and aim to respond in each moment with respect, awareness, and wisdom. The key quality and foundation of any successful counselling relationship is the depth of listening, holding and genuine compassion the therapist can offer always for their clients.