Experience and Qualifications
Experience as a counsellor, psychotherapist and supervisor
I have experience of providing short-term counselling in the NHS (IAPT) and EAP (Employee Assistance Programme), and also open-ended and longer-term counselling and psychotherapy in my private practice. I have worked with adults of all ages.
Areas in which I have experience and special interest include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Stress, including work-related stress
- Mindfulness-based ways of working with anger and other emotions
- Self-esteem, confidence and self-empowerment
- Bereavement and loss
- Trauma
- Autism / Asperger's
- Social awkwardness
- Disabilities (especially sight-related) and illness
- Creating balance between 'doing' and 'being'
- Sexuality
- Relationship issues - family, intimate relationships, clients' relationships with themselves and the world
- Issues of meaning in life - e.g. in the contexts of ageing and 'mid-life crisis'
- Creative expression
- Spirituality
- Intercultural issues
- Creative ways of working with dreams
- Time-related issues
As a qualified counselling supervisor, I offer supervision to counsellors and psychotherapists of any theoretical orientation, where they can discuss and reflect on their client work and wider related issues and be supported and encouraged in their ongoing professional and personal development. As in my client work, I encourage supervisees to be creative and to look from different perspectives.
In addition to my work as a counsellor and psychotherapist, I teach counselling at a college of further education and I run workshops on themes such as our relationship with time, beginner's mind, assertiveness, and working with fear. More themes to follow...
Counselling and Psychotherapy Qualifications
Counselling, psychotherapy and supervision qualifications
- MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling - School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent's College (now Regent's University), 2011
- Advanced Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy (post-MA) - School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent's University, 2013
- Foundation Certificate in Counselling - School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent's College (now Regent's University), 2005
- Introductory Counselling Course Certificate (Person-Centred) - The City Literary Institute, London, 2005
- Post Qualification Diploma in Counselling Supervision - Surrey Counselling Training, 2018
Other specialist training
Other specialist training
- Training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), including with Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap
- Various training, workshops and talks about Mindfulness with e.g. Jyoti Nanda, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Thich Nhat Hanh (in London and Plum Village, his retreat centre in France)
- Training in Transpersonal Psychology with Barbara Somers and Ian Gordon-Brown (Centre for Transpersonal Psychology)
- Training in Group Dynamics
- Workshop on The Therapeutic Uses of Imagery with Dina Glouberman (Self and Society)
- Workshop on Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy with Miranda Carey (Ehwaz)
- Conferences on Existential Psychotherapy
- Seminar on the Zen-influenced psychotherapy approach of Japanese pioneer Shoma Morita
- Other trainings/workshops in Gestalt, Jung, Psychosynthesis, Existential Therapy, Person-Centred Counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dramatherapy, Psychodrama, Focusing (Gendlin), Philosophical Life Coaching, Viktor Frankl and the Search for Meaning
And I enjoy a lot of reading...
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOOKS ABOUT MINDFULNESS AND MORE
Introductory books on mindfulness
Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever You Go, There You Are
- A lot of short chapters (typically around 4 pages), each with a mindfulness exercise, and it’s beautifully written.
Thich Nhat Hanh: The Miracle of Mindfulness
- A lot of different exercises. Though the author is a Buddhist, the mindfulness exercises are applicable whether or not one is Buddhist
He has written many other books which I can recommend
Thomas and Beverly Bien: Finding the Center within: The Healing Way of Mindfulness Meditation
- A step by step approach to developing mindfulness over ten weeks
Acceptance of oneself
Tara Brach: Radical Acceptance
- A mindfulness- and compassion-based approach
Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Mark Williams: Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world
Williams, Teasdale, Siegal and Kabat-Zinn: The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- a mindfulness-based third-wave CBT approach
Books by Russ Harris:
The Confidence Gap
- This book is concerned with developing confidence.
The Happiness Trap
- This book challenges widely accepted assumptions about happiness and offers a mindfulness-based, values-based approach to happiness.
The Reality Slap
- This book addresses how to deal mindfully when life doesn’t go the way we might want it to.
A mindfulness-based approach to anger
Mike Fisher: Mindfulness and the Art of Managing Anger
An ACT way of working with anger
Eifert, McKay and Forsyth: Act on Life, Not on Anger: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Guide to Problem Anger
A Mindfulness-based approach to perfectionism
Pavel Somov: Present Perfect: A Mindfulness Approach to Letting Go of Perfectionism and the Need for Control
Facing difficult emotions
Pema Chödrön:
- When Things Fall Apart
- The Places That Scare You
- Though the author is a Buddhist, the book and mindfulness exercises are applicable whether or not one is Buddhist
Combining mindfulness with schema therapy and insights from neuroscience
Tara Bennett-Goleman:
- Emotional Alchemy
- Mind Whispering
- The second of these books also includes insights from work with horses
Happiness
Matthieu Ricard: Happiness: A guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness
Tsalwang Drukpa:
- Everyday Enlightenment: Walking the Path to Happiness in the Modern World
- Happiness Is a State of Mind: How to Create Space for Happiness in Your Life
Flavia Arzeni: An Education in Happiness: The Lessons of Hesse and Tagore
- The author draws lessons from the lives and writings of Hermann Hesse and Rabindranath Tagore. Although those authors may not have elaborated a specific formula for happiness, various themes emerge which can be valuable elements living a happy and fulfilling life, including Nature, love and creativity.
Relationships
John Welwood:
- Love and Awakening
- Journey of the Heart: Intimate Relationships and the Path of Love
- These and other books by John Welwood integrate psychological work with spiritual practice. He particularly focuses on the idea of ‘conscious relationship’ - intimate relationships as a spiritual path
Mindful Communication
Thich Nhat Hanh: The Art of Communicating
Other qualifications
Science degrees
- BSc in Theoretical Physics
- MSc in Astronomy
Teacher training
- Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
- Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
Other experience
I have extensive experience of teaching English to international students and speakers of other languages, working with students from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This includes teaching English at a Turkish university and a well-known language school in South Korea as well as at colleges in the UK and my continuing teaching at a UK university, where i also provide one-to-one study support for British as well as international students.
Having travelled widely in Europe, Asia and Latin America has contributed to my appreciation and understanding of different cultures, and some knowledge of other languages; I speak French as a second language and Turkish as a third language and have some knowledge of other languages, e.g. Italian, Spanish and a little Korean.
I have been guest speaker twice on Radio Ara in Luxembourg, speaking about the Bengali poet and educationalist Rabindranath Tagore, and I am joint editor of the book Rabindranath Tagore: A Creative Unity. My writings also include the article Jean Sibelius and Rabindranath Tagore: A Poet-Musician and a Musician-Poet of Nature and various music reviews.
