I have always had a passion for helping people and was drawn to the counselling field for many years, before finally making the choice to study and open my own private practice.  During my 20’s and 30’s I made many life transitions and found the support of counselling invaluable, which led me to make the decision to become a counsellor myself.

Throughout my career as a facilitator of focus groups, I realised that I enjoyed listening to people and exploring their choices in a non-judgemental way, and using psychological models to understand consumers.  Completing a counselling degree presented me with the opportunity to do what I love best – helping others to navigate their life emotionally, mentally and physically.

My time in a private psychiatric hospital led me to the realisation that, as a general rule, when people are going through a rough time, they tend to be very self critical and self blaming, which only serves to hinder healing and wellbeing.  I believe that the practice of mindfulness and self-compassion can start to help us heal, and these practices inform everything I do in the therapeutic relationship, alongside other modalities such as Person Centred Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, and Existential Therapy.

Through the practice of self-compassion and mindfulness myself I realised how therapeutic it is in terms of encouraging self awareness.  Being mindful can also help you to learn to sit with feelings of anxiety, sadness, grief, joy and many other emotions, rather than distracting or suppressing feelings.

By having the support of an accepting, supportive counsellor, you can explore issues such as relationships, life transitions, feelings of grief, sadness, anger, loneliness and isolation, and begin the process of becoming more self aware.  Self awareness is the key to meeting our emotional, spiritual, mental and physical needs in order to be happy and satisfied.  If you are feeling the need for support, and want to gain insight in order to create a sense of wellbeing and to make the changes you want, then I would love to hear from you.