About Me
About Me
I didn't arrive at counselling in a straight line. Very few people do.
Before I trained as a therapist, I spent more than two decades working in nature conservation and the civil service — starting out as an Environmental Scientist, working my way through community projects, grant funding and site management, and eventually leading a multidisciplinary team of nearly 25 people delivering government policy across the South West of England. It was meaningful, demanding work, and I was good at it. But somewhere along the way, the person showing up at work and the person I was becoming on the inside stopped matching.
I came to counselling as a client first. What I found there changed everything. For the first time, I began to understand myself — not just the capable, driven professional, but the whole of me. I realised I had been carrying things I hadn't named, surviving situations I hadn't fully acknowledged, and living a life that didn't yet reflect who I truly was or what I valued. Counselling gave me permission to look at all of it honestly, and slowly, to begin choosing differently.
Viktor Frankl wrote that everything can be taken from us except the freedom to choose our own response. That idea sits at the heart of everything I do. I believe that however stuck, lost or overwhelmed someone feels, there is always the possibility of meaning, of movement, of choice — and that having the right support makes all the difference in finding it.
I retrained as a counsellor because I wanted to offer others what had been given to me. Not answers — counselling rarely provides those — but something more valuable: a space to be fully heard, to make sense of what you're carrying, and to begin finding your own way through.
Counselling isn't about a fixed number of sessions or a predetermined destination. It's about meeting you where you are, working at your pace, and responding to what you need in this moment. Whether that's a few sessions to navigate something specific, or longer-term work to explore something deeper — that's always your choice.
I hold a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science and an Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling from Iron Mill College. I completed five years of training, graduating in 2025, and have since accumulated nearly 500 hours of client work across a range of presenting issues. I am a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and work in accordance with their ethical framework. As part of my ethical practice, I receive regular clinical supervision — ensuring my work remains reflective, grounded and in the best interests of my clients.
My professional background in project management, team leadership and welfare support gives me a genuine understanding of workplace pressure, organisational stress and the impact of carrying responsibility for others. My personal experience of significant life transitions — loss, change, starting over — means I bring more than clinical training to the room. I bring genuine understanding.
I work with grief, bereavement, life transitions, workplace stress and burnout — not because I chose these areas from a list, but because they have shaped my own life and I know, from the inside, how transformative it can be to have support in navigating them.
How I Work
I am an integrative humanistic counsellor, which means I draw on a range of approaches — person-centred, relational, existential — tailored to you and what you need. My work is trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming.
But more than any particular model, what I bring is curiosity, warmth and a genuine belief in your capacity to find your own path. I am not here to fix you or work on you — I am here to work with you. Our sessions are a collaboration, a partnership, built on trust and at your pace.
My goal is to be that kind of counsellor for you: someone in your corner, curious about who you are and committed to helping you find your own version of what's possible.
If any of this resonates — if you recognise yourself in any of it — I'd love to hear from you.
Where I Work
I offer face-to-face counselling in Exeter at the Good Life Therapy Centre, and in Exmouth at Hands on Health. I also offer walk and talk sessions along Exmouth Beach and at Phear Park, and online sessions via Zoom.