As a counsellor
I have been a counsellor since 1999 and have worked with adults and young people from many different backgrounds and walks of life. I trained at the Iron Mill in Exeter, UK, and my approach to counselling is based on humanistic and existential principles. This means that I start from a position of valuing each person as a unique human being, prioritising their needs and seeking to work with them within the terms of the BACP Ethical Framework for Counselling Professions.
I believe that everyone has the potential to make sense of their lives, to understand how problems arise and to make conscious decisions and changes which will improve their everyday experience. Counselling can help with this. I will listen to you carefully and check what I have heard, giving you the chance to clarify your own understandings. In some cases, this is enough to help you decide how to solve a problem; in others, it may mean ‘coming to terms’ with what cannot be changed. I follow the ‘existential’ principle that each person can find meaning from their experience of life and can make conscious and responsible choices. I modify how I work with each person to suit their needs, beliefs and preferences, choosing techniques drawn from a range of methods including Person-Centred Counselling; Cognitive Behavioural Therapy; and Transactional Analysis. You can find out more about these on my ‘useful links‘ page, and other approaches to counselling and psychotherapy here.
My career and qualifications
I have worked in education for most of my professional life, beginning as a teacher in adult and further education, then as a university lecturer, a head of department and wellbeing services manager. In parallel to my career in education I have worked as a counsellor at Derriford Hospital Plymouth in the UK since 1999. I am now working as an independent education consultant and as a counsellor and coach in private practice. In addition to my diploma in counselling, I have professional teaching qualifications for further and higher education and in teaching English as a Foreign Language. I also hold degrees in politics (BA) and in educational linguistics (MA). In 2005, I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the UK’s Higher Education Academy. I completed my doctorate in education in 2018. I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and am listed in their register of qualified counsellors. I have regular professional supervision and I work in accordance with the BACP’s ethical framework (see link above).
Personal life
I am the son of a farmer and a nurse who met towards the end of the second world war. My mother experienced the blitz and personal and family tragedies as a result of the war. I grew up in Buckinghamshire in the 1960s and 70s, full of both the optimism of technological progress and anxieties over possible nuclear war and environmental degradation. I found comfort in my love for the natural world, music and books of all kinds, as well as with my friends and being a part of the communities around me. I lived in Lancashire for many years and developed great affection for people there, the fells and for the Lake District. I have also lived in London and, more recently, in Devon and Cornwall with my partner, Kate. I spend my free time walking on Dartmoor, swimming in rivers and in the sea when temperatures allow. I also love to study and to read about pretty much anything. I have been lucky enough to spend time travelling in India, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. I love to travel and to meet new people. I like strumming my guitar, singing and plinking and plonking on a piano. I am also a keen gardener and enjoy creative writing. I find my encounters with other human beings to be profound, rich and inspiring. We are all learning about life and what it can be. I believe that everyone – and at any age – can learn, grow, heal and become more true to their best nature. A little help from a compassionate and experienced counsellor can make a very great difference on those journeys.