My Experience

I am the Lead Clinical Psychologist for the West London branch of Avenue Therapies and a highly experienced Clinical Psychologist having worked in the NHS for over 10 years and in private practice for more than 5 years. I have worked with individuals across the lifespan, couples and families, presenting with a range of both mental health and physical health difficulties. I have experience and feel comfortable working with a wide range of clinical, relational, physical health and emotional problems, including anxiety, stress, health anxiety, panic, OCD, depression, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, or management and adjustment to illness, loss or bereavement.

My aim is to support my clients whatever their difficulties and help to facilitate changes needed to reduce distress and improve quality of life, in line with identified goals and needs. For some, this may involve a small number of structured appointments, whereas others may prefer a more exploratory and longer-term approach. I am particularly interested in working with people in a relational way – understanding how the relationship with self and others is developed and maintained, and how this affects the individual in their day-to-day interactions, their past and future. My other area of interest is working with people with physical health problems, and helping adjust to and manage the impact of these conditions, physically and psychologically. I have worked extensively in this field, with clients with a wide range of health concerns, most recently for a charity supporting people with cancer and their families.

My Values

My aim as a therapist is to support my clients on their journey to a more fulfilled and fulfilling life, whatever the difficulties they are experiencing. I am a supportive, open and non-judgemental therapist, and aim to stand side-by-side with my clients, to understand and explore their difficulties together. I am passionate about helping clients reach their full potential, empowering them to take ownership of changes they are making and maintaining these changes into the future, and beyond the end of our therapeutic work together.

The Models I Work With

I aim to tailor the intervention to the client I am with, their identified goals and needs, in a bid to ensure a ‘best fit’ for that person. I have received training and incorporate elements from different therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Mindfulness, DBT skills and Schema Therapy.

Clinic Information

I currently hold a clinic in Ealing, London and offer face to face and virtual appointments on Mondays & Thursdays between 9am-15.30.  I work with people aged 13 years upwards.

Training and Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London 1997 – 2000
  • PhD ‘Information Processing Biases in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME’, Royal Holloway, University of London, Pass 2005
  • Doctor in Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, University of London 2003 – 2006
  • Constructing a new Self: a cognitive therapy approach to personality disorders. Christine Padesky. London: June 2006
  • ‘Introduction to Mindfulness as a health care intervention for managing chronic pain and illness (special interest in CFS/ME’), Manchester: July 2010.
  • Institute of Psychiatry ‘Achieving Excellence in CBT – CBT top-up training’ – workshops/masterclasses on using CBT with different conditions, including ‘social anxiety’, ‘health anxiety’, ‘depression’, ‘ptsd’, ‘ocd’, ‘panic disorder’, ‘depression’, ‘chronic depression’, ‘body dysmorphic disorder’, ‘generalised anxiety disorder’ and ‘chronic health conditions’. London: July 2010 – May 2011.
  • Mindfulness Training Ltd ‘Four day experiential introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Skills Training. London: March 2013.
  • Contextual Consulting ‘ACT made simple’, and ‘ACT bootcamp’ presented by Russ Harris. London: June 2014 and July 2015.
  • Schema Therapy Associates ‘ Schema Therapy with complex cases (Module 1)’, ‘Schema therapy skills and working with Borderline Personality disorder (Module 2) and , ‘Schema therapy skills working with Narcissism and Anxious/Avoidant Personality Disorders (Module 3)’ London: Dec 2014, May 2015 and Feb 2016.
  • Contextual Consulting ‘ACT for Physical Health Problems workshop’, London: October 2016.
  • British Psychological Society – ‘Compassion-focused therapy in Oncology and Palliative Care’. Manchester: Nov 2017.
  • Contextual Consulting ‘Supercharging CBT, with elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). London: December 2017.
  • ‘Child and Adolescent Schema Therapy (modules 1 & 2); Schema Therapy Institute, Feb and June 2018.
  • Schema Therapy for Eating Disorders’; Schema Therapy Scotland, Stirling: June 2018
  • ‘Schema Therapy – Beyond the Basics’. Schema Therapy Scotland. Stirling: September 2018
  • From Merging and Disconnection to Autonomy and Attachment. Schema Therapy Institute, Nov 2019
  • Transformational chairwork. Scott Kellogg. Nov 2019.
  • ACT – 100 key points. Contextual Consulting. July 2020 (online).
  • ‘Good enough parenting’; Jon and Karen Louis. Oct 2020 (online).
  • Emotional Coping Skills for Adolescents (DBT-A); Greenwood Mentors; Nov 2020 (online).

 

Professional Registration

  • Health Care Professions Council (HCPC), Nov 2009; PYL19224
  • Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) from Oct 2008; Member of the Division of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Clinical Health Psychology and Special Interest Group of Oncology and palliative care (SIGOPAC)
  • Full Member of the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST); Feb 2019

 

Age Range

13+

Key Models

CBT, EMDR, Schema