My Experience
I have supported people with grief, depression and anxiety, as well as working with survivors of abuse and trauma both in charity and NHS settings. I have worked with people who identify as neuro-divergent, adapting therapy to suit their unique needs and strengths. I teach drawing as a meditation practice and I also have experience of running groups as a community arts facilitator, for the Recovery College and within the NHS.
My Perspective
I believe that we are all affected by our surroundings. Whether this is our families, work places, social, cultural or environmental spheres, we are all part of wider systems, so I try to work with systemic awareness. I integrate several theoretical perspectives including attachment theory, Gestalt, intersubjective psychodynamic and Buddhist psychology.
I am interested in the neuroscience of trauma and creative ways to support healing from this. I know how effective the arts can be, providing a safe and contained way to explore and process difficult emotions. Mindful and embodied ways of working are very important, supporting a sense of groundedness and building inner resources.
Appreciating Difference
An appreciation and respect for the diversity of human experience is at the heart of my practice. Difference, whether cultural, socio-economic, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, neurodiversity, physical and mental capacities and life experiences, is what brings richness to life.
I take responsibility for listening to and learning as much as I can about identities that diverge from my own, being attentive to each person's unique lived experience of difference and the intersections that impact them. I believe that self-reflection is essential, bringing my own biases and privilege into awareness. I recognise that we are all operating within the context of systemic inequality, with far reaching consequences.
I believe everybody has the capacity to be creative. Finding and nurturing this impulse is profoundly self-supportive. It allows us to get to a deeper understanding of ourselves, so that we can live in a way that aligns with our purpose.
