Person-Centred Counsellor

 BACP Registered | NCPS Accredited

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Where It Started

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My route into counselling wasn’t straightforward — but looking back, it makes complete sense.

I spent a lot of my early life caring for family and listening to what was going on for the people around me. That shaped a deep desire to support others, and I initially set my sights on children’s nursing — that combination of playfulness, care, and helping people feel safe and secure appealed to me. When I applied, the available pathways were learning disabilities or mental health nursing. I chose mental health. I had relevant experience, and I felt that the talking side of things was where I naturally belonged.

After a year, I realised nursing wasn’t quite the right fit. In 2005 I completed my first counselling certificate, and from that moment something clicked. It stayed with me as the direction I wanted to go, and it has shaped most of the professional decisions I’ve made since.

Building Experience

What followed was nearly two decades of working across a wide range of NHS and community mental health settings — and I’m grateful for every part of it.

I began on a private mental health ward — long-term, rehabilitation, and acute — working as a healthcare assistant and technical instructor. I trained as a gym instructor to support patients on the ward. It developed in me a real thirst for learning and an adaptability to understanding what was going on for different people, and finding creative ways to support them.

From there I moved into supported accommodation — both residential and floating support — helping people in the community build the practical skills to live independently. I then spent time as an activity coordinator and occupational therapy assistant on a short-term rehabilitation ward, running 12-week programmes designed to build confidence and skills ahead of discharge. I loved the assessment side, the creativity of finding the right activities for each person, and seeing what became possible when someone started to believe in what they could do.

I worked in learning disabilities for a period too — and stayed to pick up extra shifts for a long time, because I genuinely valued it. Working with people who communicated in very different ways — some non-verbally, some with limited speech — sharpened my ability to read body language, tone, and presence. It felt like a privilege to help people with things they couldn’t do alone, or hadn’t been able to do before.

I’ve also had a spell in an advice and complaints team, speaking with people face to face and on the telephone — challenging in ways that were really useful. And I spent time on an all-female acute ward, where being a consistent, non-threatening presence during one-to-ones was something I found deeply meaningful.

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Into Private Practice

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I completed my counselling qualification and began building my private practice, doing my placement at Carers Resource — which reinforced something I already knew: supporting carers matters enormously to me.

Caring responsibilities are one of the most common barriers to accessing therapy. Appointments are unpredictable. Someone else’s needs often take priority. This is part of why I developed email counselling — not as a lesser option, but as a genuinely flexible alternative that removes one of the biggest obstacles carers face in getting support for themselves.

Around this time I also received my ADHD diagnosis. I had already been diagnosed with dyslexia at 21, and I knew first-hand how disorienting it can be to receive a neurodevelopmental diagnosis later in life — the process of undoing old assumptions about yourself, reframing your history, and working out what it all means going forward. A late ADHD diagnosis raises more questions than it answers, at least at first. I wanted to offer a space where people could sit with those questions rather than just being given strategies to move on.

Men’s wellbeing has also become a significant focus. Attending a men’s counselling conference brought into sharp focus just how much higher the risks are for men — and how rarely services are designed around how men actually access support or feel comfortable opening up. I’ve thought a lot about positive male role models, what it means to be vulnerable, and how to create a space where men feel genuinely welcome. I’m proud that many of the clients I work with are men, and that they value the work we do together.

How I Work

I am person-centred in my approach — which means you are at the heart of everything we do. I follow your lead. We work at your pace. The sessions are yours.

I use metaphor a lot. When the right one lands, it can make the work richer and more precise than clinical language ever could. My interests in sport — particularly rugby league and cricket — film, music, and TV mean I have a wide range of reference points to draw on. Not forced, never prescriptive, but sometimes having something familiar to reach towards can ease anxiety in the room and open things up in a different way.

I’m also a father of two daughters. I wouldn’t make sessions about me — that’s not what the space is for — but I think it’s useful to know that I’ve lived some of what life can throw at a person, and I bring that understanding quietly with me.

One more thing. I’m not a deeply religious person, but I believe in treating people well, living with care, and the value of symbolism. My dad passed away around ten years ago. Herons were one of his favourite things, and in the period when he was ill and after he died, a heron used to visit the river alongside the building where I worked. Whenever I needed a moment, it would be there — still, patient, peaceful. It brought me a real sense of connection and helped me move through grief. I’ve had a deep affection for herons ever since.

While I was training, I read Counselling for Toads — in which the therapist who works with Toad of Toad Hall is, fittingly, a heron. Patient, perceptive, quietly present. I’ve always thought that was a rather nice touch.

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Qualifications & Credentials

• BSc (Hons) Counselling and Psychotherapy: Professional Practice — University of Salford

• BACP Registered

• NCPS Accredited

• ICO Registered

• Professional indemnity and public liability insurance held

• Regular clinical supervision maintained

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Ready to take the first step?

I offer a free 15-minute introduction call — a no-pressure conversation to see whether working together feels right for you.