About Me
My career started in the NHS, where I gained 37 years clinical practice in mental health. While working full time in the NHS I embarked on a 10 year academic journey. I started this journey with my first degree, a BA in mental health. While studying for my BA, I became increasingly interested in finding the best psychological therapy with the strongest evidence base so that I could best help my clients. In my mind there was no doubt that this was Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and the more I researched it the more convinced I became of its efficacy. As soon as I had completed my degree I undertook a 2 year course at University culminating in a Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy. I then quickly gained my formal Accreditation from the BABCP and have continued to keep this up to date. I continued my research in mental health and gained a Master’s degree (with Distinction) followed a few years later with a PhD (Doctorate) in mental health. I then became an Honorary lecturer at the University of Aberdeen. I later undertook the EMDR Europe accredited training through EMDR Academy to qualify as an EMDR therapist. I have now been practicing at expert level for many years, having worked in mental health for over 40 years with wide ranging expertise of psychological wellbeing gained across numerous clinical settings. I deliver highly evidence based therapy with an open, non judgemental, empathic and curious attitude.
Since taking early retirement from the NHS, I have managed my own Private Practice Consultancy in Inverurie assisting hundreds of individual clients. Please refer to the testimonial section on my website for feedback from some of my clients.
Remote or Virtual Sessions
In March 2020, due to Government Pandemic Guidelines dictated that clinical practice had to change. I could no longer see clients face to face in my clinic. I had no choice but to interact remotely/virtually with clients instead. As a therapist this was not something that I wanted to do. I had always resisted working remotely as I truly believed that the client and the therapist had to be in the same room to form a therapeutic relationship. I believed that therapy would not work otherwise, but I was surprised to find that this is not the case! Covid has forced me to rethink my ways of working and what is best practice.
Remote sessions are working exceptionally well. Over the last two and a half years clients have consistently reported that remote sessions make therapy much more accessible. Feedback from clients is that they prefer it. Clients state that they are more relaxed in their own homes or wherever they chose to be for their session. Remote sessions also save clients travelling time and costs. Clients report that not only is remote therapy just as good as face to face, but most clients feel it is even better.
Switching to remote or virtual sessions enables engagement with clients worldwide. I currently have sessions each week with clients in faraway places including Australia, America, Canada, Europe and the Middle East as well as nearer to home. As remote sessions are in such demand, I have no plan to return to face to face therapy at the moment.
I am continuing to offer my best in practice Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to both existing clients and people reaching out to me for help for the first time.
Online and Telephone
There are a number of options that work well and allow us to interact virtually:
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FaceTime
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WhatsApp
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Zoom
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Skype
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Teams
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Phone
CBT for You is here for you
I am aware that flexibility may be crucial for you in finding the support that you need. I will work with your needs wherever possible and in ways that can adapt as your circumstances change. Please contact me with any questions or queries by email, the web contact form on this site, or phone.