I am UKCP accredited and hold a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy and am fully licensed as a marriage and family therapist and a licensed professional counselor in addition to holding certifications in Gestalt practice and emotionally focused therapy. Prior to becoming a therapist, I worked in the oil and gas industry for 27 years and gained experience as an executive trainer and professional coach.

I’m a guitar player and love singing in harmony.   I lived in the USA for 19 years before moving to the Peak District which was my former home. I love walking in the hills and cycling and spending time with friends and family.

About EFT and couples therapy

I’m passionate about using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to help couples. In EFT we firstly work with the way couples are managing their relationships – how people fight and make up, how people distance from each other or shut down, how they show emotion, what emotions they show and why it’s sometimes hard to be vulnerable with their partners. Exploring this together in session and getting to the roots of what’s hard to say to each other is the essence of what we do first. I help couples find out the triggers for reactivity and we talk about why those triggers happen.

Once we’ve calmed things down by this kind of exploration, we start to delve deeper to help couples find out what’s really going on – what each partner is afraid of and what they need from their partner to help them feel really safe in the relationship. We help to answer the question “Will you be there when I really need you” and help partners understand and recognize what’s important to keep them safe, warm and loved in the relationship.

Once this closeness becomes more known and practiced, we are then in a position to start solving some of the problems that were hard to solve when fighting or distance was part of the relationship. Typical issues could be problems with in-laws, money, children and parenting, work, shared interests or other challenging issues.

Typically, for most couples, 15 – 20 sessions is enough to get their relationship back on track and feeling close and safe again. For some couples, especially where there has been significant trauma, emotional injuries or mental illness, therapy can take longer.   We work together to determine what’s needed and I will support couples for as long as they need while making sure that we know when we are ready to stop therapy and carry on the work at home.