About Compassionate Counsel

I have an MSc (Counselling Research) and Diploma in Counselling (University of Bristol), as well as Certificates in Life Coaching and Counselling Supervision, My accreditation by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Accred) and registration with the United Kingdom Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (UKRCP) means that my practice is professionally accountable.

My training began over twenty years ago under the Westminster Pastoral Foundation while practising as a Senior Physiotherapist within Mental Health and Psychiatry in various NHS settings. As a counsellor my experience includes working for a charity with survivors of abuse, as a student counsellor in University Wellbeing Services, within the Occupational Health Departments of Bristol City Council and the Royal United Hospital Bath, at The Dean Neurological Hospital in Gloucester as well as Lead Counsellor for South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust alongside my thriving private practice. I am also a part of a national network of therapists affiliated to a number of employee Assistance Programmes and as a Supervisor, I provide one-to-one and group supervision as well as providing professional/vocational training for groups and organisations. In addition I have a particular interest in supporting women and their families impacted by Post Natal Depression and have been instrumental in setting up, managing and running "Out of the Blue" a group specially designed to support mums and dads through their transition to parenthood.

Consequently I have experience of a wide range of people in a variety of circumstances looking for help with low self-esteem, anxiety, stress and panic, depression, confusion, feeling stuck and alternatively in transition, feeling powerlessness or out of control, abuse, trauma, bereavement, neglect and work-related issues. I work in accordance with the BACP Ethical Framework and receive regular professional supervision.

Essentially I am an integrative, warmly relational counsellor, which means I work using a range of theoretical models and approaches to respond to your individual needs. These include: Gestalt, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Person-Centred, Psychodynamic, Psycho synthesis, Life Coaching and Transactional Analysis.