About me – Experience & Qualifications

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“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”

– Carl Jung

 

My Experience and Qualifications

I am a relationship counsellor with more than 25 years
experience. I originally trained as a couple counsellor for Relate where I worked for 14  years. I worked with couples and individuals on their relationship difficulties and also counselled young people and families.

After gaining a BSc (Hons) in Integrative Counselling and setting up my private clinical practice in 2007, I have more recently trained as a Relational Integrative Psychotherapist under the tuition of Richard Erskine with the International Integrative Psychotherapy Association (IIPA).

Alongside my private practice, I have worked in a number of GP settings seeing patients for counselling. I have experience of EAP work (Employee Assistance Programme) and have also worked at Peterborough Prison counselling female prisoners.

I have experience working with:

  • Relationships issues:

– Communication difficulties – not talking, frequent rowing or anything in-between
– Affairs
– The impact of divorce on the individual and on the family
– Parenting
– Domestic violence and abuse
– The impact of sex addiction on relationship
– Working with young people who have been impacted by parental conflict, separation or divorce.

  • Anger management
  • Low self esteem and lack of self confidence
  • Bereavement and loss
  • Loneliness
  • Suicide

– Feeling suicidal and also with those who have been left behind following a suicide.

  • Mental health issues:

– Anxiety, depression, obsessing, personality disorders

• Self harm
• Adult survivors of sexual abuse:

– the impact on relationships with self and others

• Alcohol, drug abuse and gambling
• Sex and sexuality

Qualifications

2012 – Advanced Diploma in Relational Integrative Psychotherapy (Manchester Institute Psychotherapy) IIPA – 4 year Training

2009 – Post Graduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy (Doncaster College) Hull University – 1yr

2007 – Bachelor of Science with Honours in Integrative Counselling (Matrix college) Middlesex University – Required 250 supervised hours

2006 – Certificate Systemic Practice (Relate)

2003 – Talktime certificate (Relate) 200 supervised hours working with young people affected by divorce.

2002 – Certificate Couple Counselling (Relate) – Required 400 supervised hours

1995 – Started Counsellor training.

1984 – HV Cert

1981 – SCM

1979 – RGN

 

Ongoing Continuous Professional Development  – My professional body (UKCP ) requires me to do 50 hours a year. I easily exceed that level as I believe in the importance of learning, growing and developing both professionally and personally.

My formal trainings have given me the theoretical knowledge, understanding and awareness of how as an individual our sense of self is affected by life events.
Attending different workshops and conferences as well as reading and online webinars are all part of my continuous professional development.

The ‘flavour’ of workshops I have attended over the years have included:

Working systemically with couples, Working with domestic abuse, Parental conflict & attachment theory, Safeguarding children with trauma and family violence, Survivors course on child sexual abuse, Managing anger, Step families, Suicide, Workshop on sex and sexuality, Families affected by alcohol abuse, CAMHS foundation course, Working with addiction,  Short term counselling, Working across difference, Attachment dying and death, Working with anxiety and depression, Stress management, TA101 workshop.

Over more recent years my CPD has involved exploring more in-depth theoretical concepts and methods such as working with Trauma, shame, abandonment, obsessing and habitual worrying, narcissism, borderline and schizoid process, working with dissociation and regression, transference and countertransference.

Ethics

I am bound by the UKCP ethical codes of practice which can be found on their websites.

 

UKCP     IPA

 

I am registered with BUPA and AVIVA Healthcare

All enquires are welcome so please feel free to contact me.