My background

Since completing my degree and some travelling in 1995, I have worked in Supported Housing, as a Project Worker, Manager and Trainer.

In this work I have helped to support homeless teenagers and people with a wide range of mental health problems: anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, OCD, schizophrenia, PTSD, 'Personality Disorders'.

I have drawn on many approaches, including practical good-sense, and elements from:

• Rogerian counselling
• Person-Centred-Planning
• Befriending
• Coaching and NLP
  
• The Recovery Model
• Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction
  
• Motivational Interviewing
• Transactional Analysis
• Psychodynamic models
• Cognitive- and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and more.

In addition to my current work as a Trainer, Coach and Therapist, I have been co-facilitating Music and Drumming Workshops for people with Learning Difficulties, since 2006. And since beginning work with a national Dementia organisation in 2010 I have been facilitating similar music sessions with individuals and groups with a Dementia diagnosis.

From 2007 to 2010 I worked as a befriender for people in suicidal crisis.

For many years I was a carer for my partner who suffered from ME (fully recovered since 2004, after treatment by the wonderful Dr David Smith). It is this experience that informed my interest in working with physical health problems, and led to me learning about the Lightning Process^TM, and training with Phil Parker.

My qualifications:

• Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy, NLP and Life Coaching from the Phil Parker Training Institute.
• Member of the British Institute of Hypnotherapy.
  
• 2008 - qualified as a Licensed Practitioner of the Phil Parker Lightning Process^TM (now no longer practising).
• Certificates in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Stress Management, Multimodal Therapy and Problem-Focused Therapy from the Centre for Stress Management, Bromley.
• Advanced Practitioner of Andrew Austin's Integral Eye Movement Technique (IEMT) -- often used effectively in the treatment of panics, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other emotional issues.
  
• Trained by Andrew Austin in the Core Transformation Process
  
• Diploma in Housing and Homelessness.
  
• Honours Degree in History and Politics.