I am aware that most of my colleagues in the UK (unlike some other countries) like to remain without a past or an idea of how they came to be therapists. I do not hold with this tradition.
Before I took this path, I had worked as a scientific academic researcher, I trained firstly as a Zoologist and was drawn to the behavioural sciences. Further on I worked at the Wellcome Foundation/UCL researching the history of the Psychoanalytic movement. Later I had a long career in the book publishing/media industries.
I chose to be here as I feel that Schopenhauer’s advice “you should live first, then philosophise” were perhaps his wisest words. I have practised as a counsellor for 18 years, in the public and third sectors as well as private practice.
Distilling my years of practice into a few words is not easy, but I suspect that is what is needed here.
So, I put my approach down as this: Most people that I see have come to counselling because Plan A (for example, habitually saying that everything is all right; or doing the same as everybody else appears to be doing) has failed to deliver a sense of satisfaction in their lives, or indeed a sense of being at home in their own skin. Given this, the point of counselling is to discover how this situation came about, and to help people find a new and better directed path to follow in the continuing journey of their lives. A lot has been written about self-growth, and I see that sometimes that path can seemed obstructed and blocked. I found that continuing the journey in the presence of another, a therapist was the way that these obstacles can be overcome.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple. In essence, though, I believe that in our work together change is possible and that we can discover this new path.
I am trained in several modalities of counselling and psychotherapy. My personal guiding principle is that the map is not the territory, and that therefore individuals should be respected in their difference and given the time and space to be themselves.
Personally, as I dislike labels in the field of mental health (useful as they can be in certain instances), my guiding philosophy is to see my clients first and foremost as individuals who happen to be struggling in some respect.
I personally hold that travelling without an anchor point in your life can be without a meaningful purpose. I and my colleagues can provide that anchor point, a place of stability and reflection.
I offer a safe and confidential* space in which to examine your journey through life. I do this in order to hear your life story, examine your choices and thereby seek alternatives that might better suit you than repeating the same scenarios.
My personal interest include working as an associate with the online magazine MONKarts (http://monk.gallery/) restoring a classic boat, art house cinema and cultural anthropology. I also cook.