My therapeutic practice is underpinned by deeply held values and ethics:
We are made, and re-made, by our relationships
Gestalt for me is more than a therapeutic approach, but a way of being. I believe everyone and everything are interconnected. Despite what hurts us love is fundamental to healing and growth. Enduring change involves going deeper into our selves and accepting all that we are. Contentment comes through discovering what gives our life meaning. And, we are always a unique ‘work-in-process’.
Diversity & difference
Many of my clients feel like they’re outsiders, with intersecting and minoritised identities – including gender, sexuality, relationship, cultural, community, ethnic, spiritual, faith, health, dis-ability, family, activism and work. A number of my clients are neurodivergent, some with neuroqueer identities. My clients’ ages range from mid 20s to late 70s.
I understand that identities are more than labels — but complex experiences involving our sense of self, relationships, histories, and wider systemic factors.
I do not use labels or diagnoses unless you use them for yourself, and I oppose conversion therapy. I believe therapy should never be used to change, suppress, or ‘correct’ who someone is or wants to become. I welcome those who prefer not to use labels to allow multiple or fluid identities.
I take responsibility for continually educating myself through professional development, reflection and supervision. I am committed to anti-racist, anti-oppressive, multicultural, sex-positive, trans and queer-affirmative practice. I also recognise how difficult and overwhelming experiences can shape the ways we relate to ourselves, others and the world, and seek to work with sensitivity, respect and care.
History & context is always present
‘Normality’ is a socially constructed idea. Our experiences of emotional distress and suffering don’t happen in isolation, but are shaped by our relationships, histories, communities and the wider social and political contexts in which we live.
Experiences of racism, shadism, colonialism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism, classism and other forms of oppression – including ecological oppression – can profoundly affect our sense of safety, identity, belonging and possibility. We cannot fully understand a person’s experience without understanding something of the relationships and world in which they live.
I am interested in how personal experiences are connected to these wider contexts, rather than understanding distress solely as something located within the individual or their family. This means recognising the ways in which people adapt, protect themselves and survive in response to difficult or oppressive circumstances, while also making space for possibilities beyond those patterns.
I believe naming and engaging with structural inequalities – including those within psychotherapy itself – is integral to healing and growth.
Financial accessibility
All my therapeutic work is underpinned by a commitment to safe and responsible care, regular clinical supervision, ongoing professional development, and ethical practice management.
I’m passionate about psychotherapy being as accessible as possible, and so I work with a sliding scale fee structure. You are invited to pay as much as you can afford – also acknowledging regional and national variations, for example York compared with London or Glasgow – that isn’t an overstretch but honours the sliding scale ethos. Those who can pay more help make it possible for me to offer reduced fee therapy to those who are un/low waged, who make up a quarter of my practice. If my fees are unaffordable for you, I am open to a conversation about what might be mutually sustainable.
