Professional Journey
My core training in 2000-01 was in person-centred counselling (MA, Durham Uni). I then spent 15 years working in 4 of the largest counselling agencies in Northern Ireland, before setting up in private practice in 2016. I have had the privilege of counselling people representing a wide variety of gender, sexual, cultural and spiritual identities.
I have been very intentional in terms of my commitment to and investment in reputable and high quality training programmes. The Internal Family Systems Institute and the Association of Sandplay Therapists are internationally acclaimed professional organisations and the CPD programmes I have taken, particularly in relation to safe trauma practice, are taught by current experts in the field.
For those interested in these modalities specifically, I am a Registered Jungian Sandplay Therapist and I am Levels 1 and 2 trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS). I’ve been accredited with BACP since 2009, achieving my specialist accreditation as a supervisor in 2020.
I hold myself to high standards of practice and adhere to the Ethical Code of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy as well as the Ethical Charter of AST. Due to the diversity of the people I work with and the particular therapeutic approaches I offer (which are not widely practiced in NI) I consult with a range of supervisors and consultants internationally in order to access the best support I can and to honour the trust placed in me.
I aim to co-create an anti-oppressive space with those I work with. To this end I commit to an ongoing personal process of deconstructing and unlearning my own internalised privilege and ableism.
I have written a blog about my approach to psychotherapy here.
My Qualifications
>BTh Theology (Hons) 2:1 (QUB)
>MA Counselling (Durham University)
>Level 4 Psychological Trauma
>Cert. Clinical Supervision (Gestalt Centre Belfast)
>PQ Dip Couns Children and Young People
>Certified Core Sandplay training (Association of Sandplay Therapists)
>Cert. Online & Telephone Counselling
>IFS level 1 (IFS Institute)
>IFS level 2 Trauma & Neuroscience (IFS Institute)
>Circle Facilitation Academy (Sister Stories)
>Therapeutic Group Facilitation (Spirit Project)
>Adolescent Addiction Studies (Keele University)
>Gestalt Therapy Introduction (1 year, GCB)
>Child Development Research (1 year, CAPPNI)
>Infant Observation (2 years, CAPPNI)
>Sandplay Therapy Skills Certificate (PTUK)
>Polyvagal Theory (Deb Dana)
>Safeguarding and managing risk through digital media (BACP)
>Supervising via digital media through times of crisis (BACP)
>Traumatic Attachment & Co-regulation (Janina Fisher)
>Daily Parts Meditation Practice (Michelle Glass)
>Healing in the context of Relationships (Bonnie Badenoch)
>The Further Reaches of IFS (Bob Falconer)
>Variations in Sandplay Therapy (Barbara Turner)
>Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma (Janina Fisher)
>A Year of Polyvagal (Deb Dana)
>Jungian Theory in Sandplay (Barbara Turner)
>Working with Complex Trauma (Janina Fisher & Frank Anderson)
>Working with Sex and Sexuality using an IFS framework (Victoria Kirby)
>The Inside of Autism (Kieran Rose)
>Defining GSRDT (Pink Therapy)
>Working with LGBTQ+ clients through the lens of IFS (Frank Anderson)
>Working with Soul: Demystifying Spiritual Abuse (BACP)
>IFS Intuitive Drawing (Ruth Culver)
>Nurturing the Heart with the Brain in Mind (Bonnie Badenoch, year 1)
>The Master Series Trauma Conference (Oxford 2023)
>The Practice of Being Present (Bonnie Badenoch year 2)
>Safeguarding Adults Level 3 (Caredemy 2024)