Psychotherapy Services

Since qualifying as a counsellor, I have worked for ten years within organisations and charities supporting young people, adults and young adults with their emotional health and well-being. I have worked for several years as a counsellor in further education colleges and a school counsellor in secondary schools. I was the LGBT+ counsellor for a charity in Bath, a counsellor supporting adults and young people for an specialist eating disorder charity and a counsellor for The Family Counselling Trust, a charity working with children, young people and families. I now have a full time private practice in Bath where I offer Core-Process Psychotherapy as a Trainee, Somatic Trauma Therapy and bodymind focused therapy including Craniosacral Therapy. My work has enabled me to support many people of all ages from diverse social backgrounds, different cultures and ethnicities and working with varying genders and sexualities. My previous career has been consistent and diverse in working alongside young people and young adults and adults. As a manager responsible for the co-ordination of youth work services throughout areas of Somerset, within the education system and charities supporting homeless young adults and people with eating disorders.

I believe that both the body and mind need to be present for healing to occur. I am compassionate about supporting people to find ways to get back in touch with themselves, wherever they may find themselves; enabling them to find connections to their inner authenticity and wisdom so that they can feel less identified with their traumatic stories, patterns and conditions and become more present to their true sense of themselves.

Each therapeutic relationship is unique. My approach is creative and holistic allowing a depth that promotes intentional, and conscious healing. My aim is to create a space in which you feel able to reconnect to your deeper sense of self in the present and feel less identified with patterns and disconnection that are no longer working for you. What motivates my work is that I see the potential in every client and honour the wisdom of your own inner healer. My wish is to create opportunities for you to follow your process as it unfolds and to make the changes that you want and need in your present life.

Qualifications

• Post Graduate Diploma in Core-Process Psychotherapy - Karuna Institute (in progress)

• 2 Year Diploma in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Practitioner Training - Circle Cranio - Accredited by the Craniosacral Therapy Association UK (in progress)

• Diploma in Living Anatomy & Physiology in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy - CTET

• Certificate in Craniosacral Therapy Professional Practitioner Training - Turning Point Training - Accredited by the Complimentary Medicine Association (CMA) UK

• Diploma in Relational Mindfulness - Karuna Institute

• MA in Counselling & Psychotherapy Practice 1^st Class

• PGCE in Psychology of Education

• Counselling Children & Young People Level 5

• Certificate in Counselling Children - Place2Be

• Professional Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling - CPCAB

• DipHE in Informal & Community Education

• BA (Hons) Social Science (Psychology)

Training

• Working with Neurodiversity in the Developing Child, Adolescent & Adult in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy - CTET

• The Living Matrix - The new science of Fascia applied with Biodynamic skills in Craniosacral Therapy - CTET

• Introduction in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy - CTET

• The significance of Polyvagal Theory for Touch and Somatic Therapists with Dr Stephen Porges - CTET

• Working with Domestic Abuse in CYP & Families - BACP

• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training - (ASIST) LivingWorks

• Enhanced CBT-E Certificate Eating Disorders - NHS

• Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy for Eating Disorders - NHS

• Eating Disorders for Professionals - SWEDA

• Somatic Trauma Therapy Training – Post Graduate Training with Babette Rothschild

• Anxiety & Depression - The Polyvagal Theory and the Body Dialogue

• Compassion Focused Therapy Training - NHS

• Introduction to Hakomi Mindfulness Centred Somatic Psychotherapy

• Working Alongside Trans, Gender Diverse & Questioning People - Gendered Intelligence

• Introduction to Embodied Relational Psychotherapy (ERT)

Membership of Professional Body

I maintain a safe, confidential and ethical practice adhering to the UKCP & BACP Ethical Framework guidelines

Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP)

Trainee Psychotherapist Member of UKCP

Student Member of CSTA Cranio Sacral Therapy Association

I am fully insured for Counselling & Psychotherapy & Craniosacral Therapy with adults, young people and children.

Where I work

I live and work in central Bath and my private practice is conveniently located in a peaceful area in central Bath a few minutes walk from the centre. Parking is available for clients at no charge.

How I work

I offer longer term Core-Process psychotherapy which is open ended depending on the client’s needs enquiring into human experience at different levels and, if appropriate, working somatically, creatively, imaginatively, and expressively.

Fees

1 Hour Core-Process Trainee Psychotherapeutic Counselling Session - £60

I offer a free of charge 30 minute initial consultation to discuss your needs

Sessions can be paid for via cash or BACS

Bodywork

Both Craniosacral therapy and Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy can be integrated and work effectively with psychotherapeutic understanding, theory and practice, particularly Core-Process Psychotherapy which enquires at depth into the nature of our suffering and opens us to our potentiality that emerges through presence and relational mindfulness. And Somatic Trauma Therapy with its focus on working with the impact of trauma on the body, somatic memory and the practice of embodying emotions.

William Garner Sutherland (1873-1954), was the founder and pioneer of cranial osteopathy. He discovered deeper and deeper manifestations of rhythmic motility and pulsation throughout the human body. He realised he was sensing the dynamics of a powerful yet sutble physiological ordering and healing force in the human system. Sutherland had a direct experience of the stillness he called 'TheBreath of Life' which is at the centre of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.

What is Craniosacral Therapy?

The beauty of this therapy is its simplicity. The therapist takes up a position of being neutral and allows the process of the treatment to unfold. The therapist is interested in facilitating the body towards intrinsic reorganisations across the body’s tissues, its fluid matrix and its energetic and emotional layers, so that there is a holistic movement towards greater health. The therapy also creates a safe space for traumatic experiences to emerge steadily and move towards resolution and integration in the body without being overwhelming or re-stimulating for the bodymind.

Craniosacral theory is a holistic approach to treatment and proposes that natural forces within the body establish order for the creation, development, and maintenance of the body’s systems. There is a subtle ebb and flow motion in the body’s tissues, fluids, and bones that works intelligently to keep the body functioning properly.

What Is Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?

The approach to the work also includes a developed model of working with trauma processes. The therapists embodied experience, touch and presence are the key components in creating a ‘Relational Field’ that generates a deep sense of safety and capacity to heal from within in a client led and paced approach. 

Internal and external factors have the potential to interrupt this primary respiration. When an individual is exposed to long-term stress or experiences some form of trauma or shock, it can overwhelm the bodymind’s coping mechanisms and resources. The defence processes in the autonomic nervous system and neuroendocrine systems imprint themselves and interrupt the body’s natural flow of energy. As such, the physical body holds on to these traumatic memories in the form of bodily held tensions and frozen residue of energy.

Because it focuses on both physiological and psychological health, biodynamic craniosacral therapy is used to trigger the body’s healing response to interruptions to primary respiration, caused by conditions associated with stress and trauma. According to this theory, all beings are born with this innate healing power as a part of the body’s self-preservation mechanism. When a person cannot access this inner healing force on their own, a therapist can help in a non-invasive way to help regain balance and regulation of the nervous system and the bodies other systems through reconnection of the bodymind and its primary respiration.

How Does Craniosacral Therapy & Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Work?

Sessions are 1 hour. While some individuals may notice an improvement after a couple of sessions, it often takes several sessions for the client to achieve their therapeutic objectives. At the beginning of treatment, the client and therapist discuss physiological, psycho-emotional and psycho-physiological presenting concerns and intentions for the therapy sessions.

The client lays comfortably on a massage table, fully clothed. Once the client feels comfortable, relaxed, and safe, the therapist will begin with a light, gentle, and still touch. Common start points are the feet, head, and base of the spine. The therapist listens and feels for subtle cues within the client’s body expressing primary respiration as specific patterns of movement at a level of cranial rhythmic impulse, and moves on from there, always ensuring that the client remains aware, at ease and deeply relaxed throughout the process. The client can guide the therapist on what part of their body requires work and what level of therapist touch, or contact, they are comfortable with.

Although no intrusive manipulation is involved, the therapist uses light touches and holds on certain parts of the body to stimulate individual structures that move like wave-forms that ride on deeper tidal forces and flow and promote healing from within. Clients become deeply relaxed and feel they can let go of tensions held in the body so that energetic forces can flow more freely. Clients commonly respond by feeling as if they are in a wakeful but dreamlike state, experiencing insights and a certain stillness, feeling warm and soft as if floating. Clients may release unresolved and unexpressed energetic build up held in the body and frozen residues of energy that have not been resolved or discharged. In an unexpressed state, these unresolved conditional forces and histories have physical, psychological and emotional impact on the bodymind. Once expressed, the body can find calm and important homeostasis and regulation.

How I work

I offer Craniosacral Therapy sessions for adults and young people at my private practice in a peaceful, warm and calming therapy space. Sessions are 1 hour. Sessions can range from a couple to several sessions depending on the therapeutic objectives.

1 hour Craniosacral Therapy Session £50