I am a fully-qualified (Post Graduate Diploma in CBT) and Accredited (BABCP) Cognitive Behavioural Therapist working in the Beaconsfield/ High Wycombe area with adolescents and adults struggling with a range of anxiety and mood disorders. 

I have experience of supporting clients, either individually or in groups, in many settings including school, mental health clinic and private practice. 

In order to be accredited by the BABCP (the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists), I have had to meet strict Postgraduate education, training and experience guidelines and continue to maintain prescribed standards of clinical practice, clinical supervision and continuing professional development activities. 

To ensure that clients receive the highest standards of care and treatment I work within the BABCP Standards of Conduct Performance and Ethics framework. 

Having completed my first broad-based social sciences degree (including psychology) in the late 1980’s, I worked in research roles in the corporate world for the next 25 years at senior management level and so have a great deal of experience of work-based issues. I use many of the skills from this part of my life in my CBT work. I also have experience working with young people through a local charity and as part of school counselling team in local independent school with range of ages and staff. I also work in a local mental health hospital leading group sessions with patients. 

CBT is an evidence-based talking therapy recommended by the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for a range of anxiety disorders including generalised anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), social anxiety and panic attacks, as well as depression and low mood. It is based on the idea that our thoughts, emotions, behaviours and body sensations are all connected and, if we change one of these, we can then alter all the others.

When we are worried or struggling with a low mood, we can fall into unhelpful patterns of thinking about and responding to our difficulties which can either maintain or worsen our difficult emotions. I will help you to learn about and to alter these problematic thinking and behavioural styles so that you can feel better and get on with your life.

CBT is very much an active and collaborative talking therapy - it’s not something that can be “done” to you, it’s a way of us working together, experimenting and testing out predictions to work towards mutually agreed goals. CBT can be a stand-alone therapy or used in conjunction with medication prescribed by your GP. 

I am happy to work with you either face-to-face or online via a secure platform (I am a Certified Cyber Therapist, Online Therapy Institute) depending on your personal preferences. 

The first session will be spent finding out about the difficulties you are experiencing, how they fit into your life at the moment and any relevant background information that may relate to these problems.

We will work out if CBT is the right therapy for you and ensure that you are comfortable with the process. If CBT does not seem like the most appropriate therapy, I will recommend alternative approaches or providers. If we think that CBT would be right for you, we will agree a number of goals that we will work towards in subsequent sessions.

Over the following weeks, we will spend our time in sessions understanding, challenging and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviours and reviewing how this impacts on your emotions and problems.

Between sessions we will agree “homework” tasks where you take away the ideas and skills that we discuss in session and use them in your daily life. Each week we will assess their impact and review your progress, making changes where necessary and building up confidence in your new approach.

It can be difficult to confront fears and worries but I will support you in your journey, work with you at a pace that is comfortable and never ask you to do anything that you do not feel capable of doing.

One of the main benefits of CBT is that after our series of sessions have concluded, you will be able to continue to apply your new skills and principles to your daily life, essentially becoming “your own therapist”. This makes it much less likely that your difficult symptoms will return in the future.

Costs and times

Sessions cost £80 and last for one hour.

There is no set number of sessions but CBT is intended as a short-term therapy delivered in between 5 and 20 sessions depending on the presenting problems.

Private Medical Cover: I am registered with a number of private health insurance companies, please ask me for details.

Key worker and low income discounts: A limited number of concessionary appointments are available, please ask me for details.