“It’s not what happens to you that matters, what matters is what you do with what has happened to you.”

For the past 20 years I have been helping individuals, teenagers, groups and couples with depression, trauma, PTSD, anxiety, communication, relationships, phobias, low self esteem and confidence, panic attacks, bereavement and loss. 

My strength is in helping clients to get to the bottom, the real reason of their problem rather than dealing with the symptoms. This way of coaching and healing means that the issue stops being a recurring problem because the original cause that set it up no longer exists. 

I became a personal development professional whilst on my own journey to heal Complex PTSD, depression and anxiety that I was experiencing as a result of childhood emotional and physical abuse as a result of living with an alcoholic father and bi-polar mother for whom I was a carer.

Finding my father who died by suicide when I was 18 turned my world upside down especially as there was no counselling or group support offered in the early 1980s. It was 1997 before I had significant help for all my wounds that I had buried so deep that I even kidded myself that I was ‘over it’ as I got married and had children. It was a major life event, my divorce, that opened up Pandora’s box.

I have:

• run a support group for those bereaved by suicide for the charity Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) 
• helped hundreds of clients through my Harley Street relationship practice
• spoken on BBC radio and television about cultural stigma, shame and suicide
• had articles published in magazines and led workshops at NLP conferences
• been a trustee of a charitable therapy centre in Berkshire
• provided counselling for a multiple sclerosis support group 
• delivered life coaching, NLP, leadership and management, soft skills emotional intelligence and communication trainings for groups and individuals

Qualifications

• NLP (neuro linguistic programming) Master Practitioner and Trainer
• Healing Trauma and PTSD using CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy)
• Grief Recovery Specialist courses
• Professional Life Coaching
• Counselling Skills
• Diploma in Hypnotherapy 
• EFT (emotional freedom therapy) Practitioner
• Indian Head Massage 
• Reiki Healing Practitioner
• Theta Healing
• Motivational Interviewing
• Appreciative Inquiry
• Yin Yoga Teacher

The following is a short part of the interview carried out in 2014 following  the death of Robin Williams.

Following the show, I had a call from a 76 yr old lady who lost her father to suicide when she was 13 and has never spoken to anyone about it and is still tortured by it.

How sad and what a reflection of our society.

I made a point in the interview about more education is needed so people stop regarding mental illness so negatively.

I could never have imagined, when at my lowest point I was considering suicide, that by choosing life, choosing me, digging deep, getting focused and putting the work in, I would be a personal development and communication professional.

The healing methods I use are those that have helped me to transform my life (starting at age 34) from depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, helplessness, powerlessness to being healed and feeling empowered that I decided I could make a huge difference to others and trained as a counsellor, life coach, hypnotherapist and personal development trainer.