Some therapeutic approaches teach that it is better to know nothing about your counsellor or therapist when you embark on counselling or talking therapy. However, choosing someone to work with privately means that most of us will want to know something about the person we are investing time, money and hope in – for a start if they are qualified, what their approach is. I have written a short introduction here to help you make a choice.
If you prefer talking to reading you are welcome to contact me to set up a short phone conversation where you can ask what’s important for you to help you decide whether to start a talking therapy and whether to start it with me.
Professional Registrations and Accreditations
An accredited psychotherapist with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapists (BABCP) and a registered member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP), I work either with a pure CBT approach or with one that integrates elements of mindfulness, traditional humanistic counselling and other evidence based approaches – I work with you to understand how you prefer to communicate and experiment with change so that we can try to fit the therapies to you and not you to the therapies
Therapist journey
I have worked as a mental health professional since 2009 when I was privileged to be sponsored to train under what was then a new UK government initiative to improve access to talking therapies (known as “IAPT”) in the NHS. Before this I had been working as a volunteer for the UK’s largest emotional support charity and undertaking short counselling trainings since the early 2000s. Within the NHS I have trained to an advanced level of CBT (Postgraduate Diploma) and outside of it in integrative counselling and psychotherapy (Postgraduate Diploma).
I am now offering private work to be able to offer people the flexibility and tailored service that one cannot always in public health. I’m at my best when I have the time and flexibility to think hard about what people are telling me and what there is out there or within us that can help. Many brilliant therapists have developed wonderful tools to help people and others have demonstrated the power of listening and identifying emotions; blending the best to help you is my aim.
Influences and ethics
My professional life up until 2009 saw me working in various commercial roles and countries since graduating with a degree in languages in the late 1980s (communication was always my interest) and an international MBA ten years later.
I was not new to therapy nor to therapies though when I joined the NHS as a full-time practitioner. I might say that I grew up around therapies due to several family members being part of the growth of psychotherapy in this country as it developed from something apparently mostly practised in California (that you might see in a Woody Allen film) to be part of UK public health, demanded by the public because people found it so helpful. Academic research findings (so called “evidence base”) backed up therapy’s ability to improve lives.
Therapies did not always take the right path over the years, I have witnessed within psychological therapies charismatic people who exploited suffering . Having witnessed this I am absolutely committed to safe, down to earth care and will strive to be transparent with you as to what approach I am working with, what the evidence base is for it and what the pros and cons of it are.
I will be adding information to this website about the areas I work with but as I said above, if you prefer to just have a quick chat about where to go next, do feel free to contact me. https://www.gutfeelings.co.uk/contact/