My clinical experience spans over two decades within mental health working in the NHS, private practice and higher education. I’ve worked with many leaders in CBT, including Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. David Veale, specialist in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and Emetophobia. I have spent a large part of my career working as a Senior CBT Therapist and manager at the CQC outstanding rated mental health NHS trust East London NHS Foundation Trust. I’ve also worked as senior lecturer, postgraduate Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) programme lead, and clinical supervisor at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia. More recently, I’ve worked as Lead Therapist at Norfolk and Waveney Talking Therapies. I currently provide clinical supervision, including for the resident CBT therapist at King’s College Cambridge. I am a mindful introvert and a national and international conference presenter with formal publications on Functional Analytical Psychotherapy (FAP).
Qualification and additional training:
Diploma of Higher Education (Dip HE),he Mental Health Nursing
Bsc (Hons) Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy
Compassion Focused Therapy
Functional Analytical Psychotherapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Eye Movement and Desensitisation Reprocessing
CBT Supervision
NHS management and QI improvement leaders programme
Recent projects include setting up the award winning Steps to Wellness service in Southern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland. It is the first talking therapies aligned service in Northern Ireland as I worked as part of a small East London NHS Foundation Trust consultation team.
I help with common mental health issues using proven methods recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). Research shows that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) works best for conditions like depression, body image issues, general anxiety, health anxiety, long-term health problems affecting mental health, OCD, panic disorder, PTSD, social anxiety, and specific phobias.
CBT helps you to understand your main problems by looking at beliefs and habits you've learned over time. For example, you might think, "People won't like me unless I'm perfect," or "People can't be trusted." These beliefs stay quiet until something triggers them, like failing goals, relationship issues, or health problems. Then, they cause negative thoughts and behaviours, making you feel anxious or depressed. CBT focuses on these current thoughts and actions that keep your problems going. Using compassion-focused techniques and imagery rescripting, we can update negative memories without focusing too much on the past. CBT is practical and goal-focused.
Depending on the primary problem, I integrate advanced CBT approaches as relevant including Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Functional Analytical Psychotherapy (FAP), Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), EMDR, and Mindfulness. I am a member of the Association for Contextual & Behavioural Sciences.
Contact me today to book your free 15 mins consultation and get started.
What To Expect:
Initial Assessment Session - Explore the main things you want help with, if CBT would be helpful and what treatment looks like.
Treatment Sessions - At the start, we focus on training your mind and heart to become more aware. You’ll begin practicing skills and see how CBT fits your experience. In the middle phase, you’ll notice positive changes as we work through exercises during and between sessions, including homework. In the final phase, you’ll take more control, using what you've learned to guide your own healing. We prepare for setbacks, plan follow-up sessions, and support your continued growth. Progress is tracked with goals and questionnaires throughout.
Number of sessions: This can vary from one to twenty. It totally depends on what you want to work on.
Cost: £90 per 1hr session. I offer a free 15mins consultation chat to ensure we are a good fit.