Counselling and psychotherapy experience
Over the period since starting practice in early 2012, I have developed skills at providing both short and longer-term therapy and have worked across a range of areas, including:
- work-related stress,
- depression,
- anxiety,
- trauma,
- sexuality,
- relationship issues,
- low self-esteem.
In addition to seeing clients privately, I have also volunteered as a counsellor at a number of Edinburgh-based charities. These have included: LGBT Health and Well Being, Gay Men’s Health and the PF Counselling Service.
I am an accredited member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and graduate member of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Qualifications
My relevant academic qualifications include:
- an MA in Mindfulness Based Psychotherapeutic Practice from Middlesex University;
- and a MSc in Psychological Science (Conversion) from The University of Glasgow.
I also have undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in engineering from South Africa. I am committed to my ongoing professional development and am currently doing a PhD in Counselling Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
My journey
My career has seen me gradually transition into the counselling and psychotherapy field.
I first became interested in meditation and mindfulness during my engineering studies in South Africa over fifteen years ago. I travelled to the UK shortly after completing these and early in my stay, spent a number of weeks cooking, cleaning and meditating with a small community of Buddhist monks in rural Northumberland.
It was during this time that I first learned about Core Process Psychotherapy (CPP). I have always been interested in people, so there was something about CPP which really resonated, especially its approach to combining mindfulness with modern psychological approaches and theories.
I remained in the UK and spent the next decade working on environmental policy development in the Scottish public sector. During this period, I also undertook part time psychotherapy studies and in 2012, started seeing clients. In early 2016 I accredited as a psychotherapist and transitioned fully to the counselling and psychotherapy field. In early 2019, I was successful in my application to re-accredit with the UKCP.
In 2021 I relocated to London from Edinburgh and currently see clients in-person at the Bloomsbury Therapy Centre, as well as online.