To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
"I have seen spring in these
Woods," will not do - you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.
John Moffitt
About me
I decided to train to be a therapist when I was teaching dance and drama in some very broken down schools in SW London. Many of the students could not focus because they had too much deep distress going on in their lives. But I found that if I listened and talked with them for a while about what was wrong, they were more able to settle into their learning. I realized then I did not want to teach but rather to help people - adults as well as children and teenagers - to get to a place where they could feel less isolated, more secure and strong enough to learn, free from overwhelming anxiety, - or to fullfill their potential - to know how to express themselves and to recognize and seek healthy relationships. The students taught me the value of sitting with our pain, facing our challenges, sharing our fears, tending to what is hurting or holding us back, so that we can make space for the changes, the good, interesting or inspiring things we want to happen... actually happen.
Qualifications
I am a fully qualified Drama and Movement therapist (MA) with over 24 years professional experience, having trained with the Sesame Institute at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. This training works creatively with the arts and the imagination which can support our understanding, communication and expression of what we are experiencing both internally as well as our relationship to the world around us. However, over the years I have added more strings to my bow through ongoing CPD training, including a foundation course in psychoanalysis (The Tavistock, London) enabling me to combine and tailor peoples' preferences for talking and/or working with the creative arts when in therapy.
I am a registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council (Elizabeth Cummings - Registration No: AS02178) and abide by their code of ethics.
24 Years of Experience
In groups and with individuals, I have worked with the NHS and privately with children of all ages in schools, Sure Start centres, residential settings and community centres. I have worked with adults with complex and profound learning difficulties and mental health difficulties in secure settings and forensic mental health hospitals. I continue to work in private practice with adults, children and teenagers.
Group Work
For the past five years I have assisted my dear friend and colleague, Charmaine McCaulay, on her profound experiential course: Racism in Real Time. Click here to go to her website. To find out more about my groups click here or go to the menu.
Students and supervision
As well as offering therapy to students who are in training, I also provide one to one supervision sessions for qualified therapists.
and finally...
I have a deep respect for anyone who chooses to give therapy a try, whether they are in crisis, addressing a particular issue or wanting to develop their personal self or community. I value and respect our cultural, spiritual, gender identities and neurodiverse differences and continue to develop my awareness of the prejudices and power imbalance that affect us within our communities and globally. Everyone's experience in therapy, as in life, is different and will unfold according to your own story, past, present and future.
No word is insignificant, no feeling is irrelevant, no story of less importance than another, no gesture, no sound too small.
