ABOUT ME
I worked for years with university students, witnessing the struggle some of them had with anxiety, with relationships, with family difficulties and with addictions, and finally decided to study for an MSc in Counselling/Psychotherapy at the University of Edinburgh.
Later, I moved to Nigeria for 5 years where I worked in trauma recovery counselling, and in HIV/AIDS training and counselling both for large oil companies and in the healthcare sector. It was a fantastic and intense experience. However, it was not without its costs and I experienced multiple losses, and some very difficult experiences, and returned somewhat traumatised myself.
On returning to the UK, I found that while psychotherapy/counselling was helpful, it was not enough to combat the flashbacks and other physical symptoms of trauma. I had a few Somatic Experiencing sessions and within a short time the flashbacks stopped, and the other symptoms began to lessen. I was hooked! Fortunately, I was able to attend a workshop by Peter Levine in 2010, and then to embark on the SE Practitioner training.
Somatic Experiencing focuses on building a person’s capacity to contain psycho-physiological experiences with greater ease, and helping the person to complete any incomplete defences that still affect them from earlier trauma experiences. This allows the whole person to settle and orientate towards life rather than constantly focusing (consciously and unconsciously) on the threats from the past. I qualified as a SE Practitioner in 2014, began assisting that same year, and was approved as a Senior Assistant in 2018.
It has been a wonderful learning, bringing together all aspects of my earlier training, a long-standing interest in the inclusivity of Franciscan spirituality, the wondrous love of God for us all, a love of life and, at last, including the spirit and body - the whole person - in the understanding of psychological and emotional healing. It makes such good sense!
Further trainings have given me new depths and insights to working with trauma healing and renegotiation. They are:- Touch Training, and Somatic Skills, with Kathy Kain; working with near-death experiences (including birth trauma, strangulation, near drowning, severe allergic reactions, high fevers, abreactions to anaesthesia and more) in Eye of the Needle with Peter Levine; and NeuroAffective Touch for helping to bring healing to early developmental trauma, with Aline La Pierre
I continue to pursue this interest in how neurophysiology informs our healing and recovery from trauma physiologically, psychologically and emotionally, and clients consistently report how accessible they find this whole-person, body-based approach to psychological healing.
Using this Integrative approach, the progress I witness every week in clients - their ability to regain a sense of aliveness, greater freedom from fear and shame, increased calm, and enjoyment of life - makes this way of working readily rewarding for them and for me. I love to see people getting back their heart, making new life-giving choices, and becoming playful again.
I work in private practice in Edinburgh and online, and make regular trips to London. I am delighted to assist at Somatic Experiencing trainings in London, Edinburgh, Singapore, Egypt, and beyond.
