I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), an associate fellow member of British Psychological Society (BPS) and Chair of the BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Wales (DCoPW).
I have been working with people with mental health difficulties for over 18 years and as a qualified chartered Counselling Psychologist for 9 years in the NHS and private practice. During this time I have come to realise that one of the main causes of many people’s problems is their fear of uncomfortable thoughts & emotions and their perception of uncomfortable experiences.
I can’t say I’d always wanted to be a psychologist, despite the fact that my mother was one and my father was a psychiatrist. On leaving school I did equestrian studies at agricultural college. Throughout my early 20’s I worked with horses.
Having realised this was never going to keep me solvent, I took office-based temp jobs, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. In the end, in my late twenties, it finally dawned on me that I should study psychology. After all, it was ‘in my blood’. I’d been raised to see the world through a psychologist’s eyes! So the long journey towards qualification began.
Since becoming registered (with the HCPC) I have mainly worked with adults with severe and enduring mental health difficulties in the NHS. For the past two years i’ve worked with older people. I have found that anxiety is a very common ailment that underlies many difficulties and helping people deal with this first becomes invaluable.
On a more personal level, my family consists of a husband, a 5 year old boy, 3 year old girl and a border terrier dog. I use mindfulness skills daily to keep my family life (fairly) harmonious! Living in a fairly rural part of Wales, we love to roam the countryside often. I enjoy watching TV (a little too much at times) and films. Food is a passion of mine and I look forward to spending quality time going to restaurants and travelling, exploring what the world has to offer!