Welcome
I offer short or long-term counselling and psychotherapy to adults, in person in Norfolk at my private practice in Ingham, near Stalham. I can also work on the phone or online. For face-to-face clients we can work with creative materials if clients would like to.
I often hear from clients that it has taken them quite a while to seek help and support, and that they’re nervous about what counselling and the counsellor will be like. It often takes a crisis to pick up the phone or send an initial email. I find that people are often overwhelmed and struggling by the time they do get in touch but it is helpful and a relief to talk about the issues and be heard.
Together we explore what’s going on, moving to what has happened in the past and worries about the future. Often these things collide and jump around and especially so when we’re overwhelmed. We can get stuck in a cycle, often with unanswered questions and negative thoughts.
I always suggest to potential clients that we have a chat on the phone and I can assess if I’m able to help, and clients can ask questions and decide if they’d like to come for a session. Sometimes family members get in touch to ask questions and clients come through to me this way, though I do also need to have a chat on the phone with the person coming into counselling.
Therapy
Weekly counselling sessions offer time and space to talk through what is happening with an impartial trained counsellor. It's an opportunity to make sense of things and be supported at what may be a difficult or challenging time. It can help to talk with someone and be heard attentively, non-judgementally and with empathy.
With each client, I explore further what brings them into therapy and is important, working with them to clarify what emerges. Self-awareness often improves through the process and there’s learning how to cope and live differently, or simply how to move forward. It may be that you come to understand yourself and your experiences better, or can look to develop your potential in some way.
I meet with clients experiencing quite a wide range of difficulties. Sometimes we meet at a very challenging time in a relationship or for a family. There might be health issues at the heart of therapy, there might be great stress, anxiety or depression, or difficulty coping with bereavement or loss. It’s not unusual for there to be multiple issues, some carried for a long time.
For a chat or an appointment, please call 07838 248306 or send me an email.
My experience
I've worked with a variety of clients in many different settings since my training, including in private practice for many years, in both Surrey and Norfolk.
I was a counsellor with the YMCA in Surbiton for ten years where I set up a counselling service for residents in a large hostel.
I’ve trained with CRUSE Bereavement Care in North Surrey working as a volunteer counsellor with those struggling with loss and bereavement.
I also set up a small counselling service for those struggling with sight loss and impairment with Surrey Association for Visual Impairment (SAVI), where I offered voluntary counselling.
Through Sussex Breakeven, I worked as a visiting psychotherapist to clients with severe gambling addiction who were residents at The Gordon Moody Association gambling rehab centre in Kent.
I have extensive experience of working with gambling addiction, and sometimes other addictions, through both the rehab centre work and as a telephone helpline counsellor with the London-based GamCare National Helpline, for those affected by problem gambling, including family members.
I'm a Registered Member of BACP (British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy), with a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy (Roehampton University/University of Surrey).
I have an Enhanced DBS Certificate dated April 2018, with Vision Norfolk (formerly Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind).