In brief: counselling offers a private, purposeful relationship in which you can speak without having to protect, reassure or perform for the other person. The foundation is person-centred, with other perspectives used thoughtfully when they help us understand what is happening and what may now need to change.
I do not offer a menu of therapies in which I claim a separate qualification in every approach described on this website. My formal qualifications and accreditation are set out separately from the ideas that influence how I listen and think.
I offer individual counselling and psychotherapy. Where appropriate and agreed, I can also offer Interpersonal Psychotherapy.
My further training in psychodynamic psychotherapy included intensive personal therapy as part of the course. This training informs how I think about early relationships, less conscious processes and patterns that may repeat.
These ideas can inform my person-centred and integrative work. They do not mean that I present myself as a separately qualified psychodynamic psychotherapist or psychoanalyst.
You do not have to arrive with a polished explanation. You may know exactly what is troubling you, have several things that seem connected, or only know that something does not feel right. We can begin there.
Counselling is more than an ordinary conversation because the attention remains with you. I will listen for what you say, what is difficult to say, the feelings and meanings beneath the words, and patterns that may become visible over time. I may reflect something back, ask a question, notice a contradiction or invite us to stay with something rather than move past it too quickly.
Counselling does not remove every difficulty or guarantee a particular outcome. It can create conditions in which you understand yourself more fully, relate to your experience with greater honesty and compassion, and make choices with more awareness.
was developed by Carl Rogers within the humanistic tradition. Its central position is that people can grow and change when the therapeutic relationship offers particular conditions, not when the therapist takes over as the expert on their life.
I try to understand your experience from within your point of view and communicate that understanding so that you can test whether I have understood you accurately.
You do not have to earn respect by presenting the “right” version of yourself. Difficult, conflicting or unwanted feelings can be explored without reducing your worth as a person.
I aim to be present as a real person rather than hide behind a professional role. This does not mean making therapy about me; it means responding honestly, responsibly and in service of your work.
“Client-led” does not mean that you are abandoned to fill the silence or expected to know exactly where therapy should go. It means that your experience, pace and meaning remain central. I may be active, but I do not claim greater authority over what your life means than you have.
Acceptance also does not mean approving of everything, avoiding challenge or pretending that harmful behaviour has no consequences. Respectful challenge can be part of counselling when it helps you notice a conflict, pattern or choice more clearly.
Therapy language can be confusing, and practitioners do not always use these words in exactly the same way. Both approaches recognise that one model may not answer every need. The difference is usually in how ideas and methods are brought together.
involves bringing insights from more than one therapeutic tradition into a considered whole. A person-centred relationship may remain the foundation while other perspectives help us understand, for example, recurring patterns, relationships, emotional experience or practical ways of responding.
The test is not whether a technique is fashionable. It is whether it fits a clear understanding of you, is within the therapist’s competence and can be explained openly.
usually places more emphasis on selecting useful methods from different therapies according to the person, difficulty and stage of the work.
It should still be thoughtful and collaborative. It does not mean switching randomly between techniques or using an intervention without the training, rationale and care it requires.
Your experience is not forced into a model. I aim to offer careful attention, empathy, respect and honesty, while recognising that you are the person living your life.
When useful, we may think about how present difficulties connect with earlier relationships, unconscious or less visible patterns, ways of coping, culture and identity, or what is happening between us in therapy.
Some difficulties benefit from a clearer focus, reviewing what is changing, or trying a practical exercise. I will explain why I am suggesting something, and we can decide together whether it fits.
If an idea does not make sense, a question feels misplaced or a method is unhelpful, that matters. We can slow down, reconsider and understand the disagreement rather than treating the model as automatically right.
Not all of these will happen in every session. Therapy remains a conversation, not a sequence of exercises.
At the beginning, we consider what has brought you, what you hope may become different and what kind of support may suit you. Those hopes can change as understanding develops. We can review whether therapy still feels relevant rather than assuming that continuing is automatically useful.
You decide what you disclose, but therapy may sometimes feel emotionally demanding. I will not deliberately push you into material simply because it is difficult, nor promise that meaningful work will always feel comfortable. We can speak about the pace and its effect on you.
You want a highly standardised treatment for a specific difficulty, or your needs require urgent, crisis, medical, multidisciplinary or specialist support beyond individual online therapy. A particular evidence-based therapy may sometimes be more suitable than broadly integrative counselling.
We would consider this during an assessment. I will not claim that my way of working is right for everyone.
A note about evidence: “Counselling”, “person-centred”, “integrative” and “eclectic” cover varied practices, so a label alone does not establish effectiveness for every condition. For depression, the NHS offers a specific evidence-based form called Person Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression (PCE-CfD), delivered by appropriately trained practitioners. More generally, the quality of the therapeutic relationship, the therapist’s competence, a shared understanding of the work and whether the approach fits the person all matter.
This page distinguishes established descriptions from my explanation of how I work. The principal public sources are:
I offer individual online counselling and psychotherapy for adults in weekly, 50-minute sessions. An initial conversation gives us a chance to consider what you need, how I work and whether it feels possible to begin.