About Me

My experience

I am a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and a Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. In my private practice I see young adults (age16 – 25) who are in psychological distress or suffering developmental crises. I also see adult couples who are struggling with a range of emotional and relationship difficulties. I work in a professional and confidential setting with people of all genders, sexual orientations, and ethnicities.

I worked in the public sector for over 30 years, primarily in the NHS. For many years I was Head of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (NHS CAMHS) serving Manchester and Salford. I have considerable experience in working with Looked After Children and young people; adoptive parents and families; and their associated networks. This includes working with couples who are adopters.

Alongside my experience working with couples in private practice, whilst training in London I provided couple psychotherapy as a member of the Tavistock Relationships clinical service. 

I also work as a Clinical Tutor and Supervisor at the Northern School of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy (NSCAP, Leeds). I have published a number of clinical papers and I’m the co-author of a book on psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adolescents with depression.

My clinical trainings were at the Tavistock Centre (Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist) and at Tavistock Relationships (Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist).

My work

My training and experience is in working psychoanalytically. This means that the focus is on the emotional and relational aspects of the life of the couple or the individual. Anxieties, feelings, and emotional states can be experienced both consciously and unconsciously. There can be ideas – fleeting or more fixed – in our minds: we are not consciously aware of them, yet they influence us considerably. These can shape our attitudes towards ourselves and those with whom we have close relationships, and affect how we behave in everyday life.  

Difficult past experiences – especially those suffered early in life – coupled with individual personality factors, can lead to distortions in the way we see ourselves and relate to others. We can be troubled by feelings, worries, and ideas which we can’t make rational sense of and, despite being aware of, are unable to tolerate or change. Certain times of life, such as periods of developmental transition, can present particular challenges. These include the arrival of adolescence, first sexual encounters, moving into young adulthood, becoming an adult couple, a relationship ending, becoming parents, children becoming teenagers, the death of intimates, growing into older age, facing one’s own mortality.

In work with individuals and couples, a psychoanalytic approach provides a secure framework, which enables such dynamics to be observed and thought about together, and talked about by the therapist and patients. Some of these dynamics will manifest themselves in the relationship with the psychotherapist. Over time this relational process enables meaning to be discovered, and for the working through of anxieties and emotions which are inhibiting the development of the couple or individual.

Qualifications, Memberships, and Registrations

B.A.(Hons); PG Dip.Art Th; M.Psych.Psych; M.A..

Association of Child Psychotherapy (Full Member)

Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology (Graduate Member)

British Psychoanalytic Council (Registrant)

I am committed to working within the ethical and professional frameworks of these organisations.