Overview

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I am an experienced UKCP-registered psychotherapist, UKCP-recognised supervisor (RS) and freelance trainer working in Edinburgh (please click here for location map) and near West Linton. I bring a relational embodied integrative approach.  I have a grounded, embodied interest in / experience of spirituality, including trainings in non-dualism and shamanism. I have recently studied pre and perinatal psychology in depth (how our very early life experience impacts us as adults) and I bring this to my therapy work.

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Professional background

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I have been involved in gestalt psychotherapy for around 25 years, and have worked in private practice for many years. I began in gestalt as a therapy client and I see my own therapy as a central part of my professional development and support. I trained in gestalt psychotherapy at Edinburgh Gestalt Institute (EGI), and I was subsequently a member of the EGI training faculty and executive management team for around 10 years, until resigning from those roles in 2016 to free up time and energy to develop my other professional interests including writing and spirituality. 

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Previously, I studied philosophy and english literature, and worked in the homelessness, addictions and mental health fields in the voluntary and statutory sectors.

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Current work and interests

I work independently as a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer in private practice. I have supervised counsellors and therapists working for the NHS, the PF Counselling Service, Mindspace, TalkMatters, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, and Addictions Counselling Inverness. I also offer independent supervision groups, CPD workshops and an ongoing CPD group for gestalt psychotherapists.

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I continue my professional development through participating in advanced training, reading, writing and teaching. I also grow through, and enjoy, playing my flute, meditating, running, being in nature and spending time with people who are dear to me. I am influenced by, and respectful of, many spiritual traditions, and am particularly familiar with buddhism, shamanism, non-dualism and the work of Eckhart Tolle. I enjoy being spiritually 'multi-lingual', exploring the language and beliefs of the person I am working with, without imposing my own.

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I love working with people as a psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor. I love the transformations and connections which are possible through effective healing relationship. I love immediacy, spaciousness, mystery, alchemy, energetic flow, discovery, creativity. I love intelligent thought and poetic expression, joining up head, heart and soul.

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Spiritual influences

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My psychotherapy work, supervision and training are influenced by my long-term interest in spirituality. In particular:

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Non-dualism​​​​

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This describes a perspective shared by many spiritual traditions - that there is no fundamental separation between self and the rest of existence; all is an interconnected whole which we can experience as 'oneness'. We are the universe experiencing itself. In psychotherapy, this can become a focus on embodied awareness, presence, direct experience, spaciousness and interconnectedness.... all fundamental aspects of gestalt psychotherapy.

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After studying from 2022-25, I became an accredited teacher of the Realization Process​​, which is 'a series of powerful but gentle, precise attunement practices for realizing your own nature as fundamental consciousness– an undivided expanse of luminous transparency, pervading your body and environment as a unity.' (Judith Blackstone). These practices can be integrated into psychotherapeutic work.

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Shamanism

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Shamanism is over 40,000 years old. Whilst the word 'shaman' comes from the Tungus tribe of Siberia, shamanic practice is native to all continents. I am drawn to the way shamanism can directly enable work on an energetic and spiritual plane, working in what is sometimes called 'non-ordinary reality' or the world 'beyond the veil'. Often supported by the beat of the drum, this work potentially connects us with our wellbeing, power, and the well-and-wise ancestors (bloodline and/or spirit ancestors).

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I have been learning about shamanism for many years, including its integration with psychotherapy. I bring an grounded and ethical approach. I have completed two years of shamanic apprenticeship and continue to learn more. We can draw on this learning if it feels appropriate to us both. Shamanic healing requires you to be ready and willing to heal.