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The therapy sessions I offer are generally available at Kingsclere Counselling Services between 8.00am and mid-day on Wednesdays. However, sessions are available beyond these core hours, by negotiation. 

Kingsclere Counselling Services is situated on the A339 between Newbury and Basingstoke; approximately 7 miles from Newbury and 3 from Basingstoke.  The premises is easily reached from the A34. Both Newbury and Basingstoke have railway services connecting to national network. There is a bus service running between Newbury and Basingstoke that stops immediately outside the building.

My work as a therapist  is enriched by a previous long career in  teaching and education and especially by the focus that work took on care experienced children and young people. .

My training was undertaken, over three years,  at The Institute for Arts Therapy in Education, Islington, London. I am an Integrative Psychodynamic Counsellor and use a wide range of Arts resources , games and activities through which issues, behaviours and experiences are explored.

Since my initial training I have gained level 2 Dyadic Dialogue Programme (DDP) training which informs all my work and often leads to working with parent/carer and child together. 

This year I gained the Advanced Certificate in Therapeutic Life Story Work, Richard Rose model, which is now part of my professional portfolio offer.

Continuing the work I carried out with Virtual Schools for Care Experienced Children and Young People I offer Training and Consultancy to staff in schools or other Education settings, and to parents/carers/guardians and social workers, often via Children’s Services or Adoption Services.

My work is child/young person centred and Attachment and Trauma Informed. Sessions are client led in terms of activity and pace; they use the space and resources provided, as they choose. My purpose and aim is is to enable clients to gain an understanding of self and context and to take control of their narrative.  The first few sessions focus on trust building and a working rapport.  All work is confidential but generic reports can be provided to parents and/or fee payers at intervals and cost agreed at the point of contracting.

The first session is a meeting rather than a therapy session. It is attended by client and parent if the client is under 13 years of age. Over 13 years the client is  given the choice of having a parent attend. The initial meeting rate is £50.00

Sessions are booked and contracted in renewable six week blocks.  

A monitoring radar is completed as a means of both gaining an indication of how therapy is meeting the needs of the client and of informing my work in order to best help the client. Other 'assessment' tools can be used when required or requested. These include the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Goals and Goal-Based 0utcomes (GBOs). These can be triangulated with other providers with whom the client is connected.