Acceptance and Commitment (ACT) Counselling in Lewes

I offer therapy and counselling to help people to deal with & change unhelpful, disturbing thoughts, feelings & behaviours. These can be recent issues or long-held problems. The good news is – it is possible to change and to live a better, more fulfilling life. I help clients deal with depression & low mood, anxiety & performance anxiety, stress & panic, relationship problems, anger & low self-esteem, bereavement & health/body issues & post-traumatic stress disorder & obsessive, compulsive behaviour. I work with all groups of people & also specialise in working with artists, performers & those working in the creative industries.

I am a qualified clinical psychologist with over 20 years experience working with adults with a range of difficulties including trauma, abuse, difficulties in relationships, self-harm, depression and anxiety. You may be quite clear about what your difficulties are and what help you would like or just feel unhappy and have a sense that your life is not going quite as you had hoped. I can work with you to think about why difficulties have arisen and how you can make changes in the here and now to help your life move forward.

Hello and welcome. Are you feeling like life is not heading in the direction you want it to? Are you feeling like your emotions are in the driving seat? Whether you are feeling Anxious, Depressed, struggling with Low self-esteem, experiencing PTSD/ cPTSD, Trauma, Grief/ Bereavement, or Stress, or you may be going through a life transition or experiencing a Long term health condition, I am here to help. I provide evidence based therapy for adults and teens aged 14+ within the Brighton and Hove area and online.

At times, we can find it difficult to connect with those closest to us or even with ourselves. Traumatic events, change, loss and ongoing stress can lead us to feel overwhelmed, stuck, anxious, irritated, confused or low and lacking in motivation. If this resonates with you, I provide a confidential space for you to express, explore, process and reflect on your experience, without blame or judgement. I offer a collaborative approach, working with calm compassion and gentle curiosity. By supporting you to enhance self awareness and develop self acceptance, you can move towards more satisfying, life-affirming, choices and connections.

Are you feeling trapped by your anxiety, stuck in a toxic relationship or overwhelmed with grief? I can help you navigate these feelings, work towards finding your sense of self again and rediscover the purpose and clarity you may have lost. I am an experienced and qualified humanistic counsellor who is passionate about supporting you to explore what brings you to therapy.

Sometimes children and young people can behave in ways that are difficult to understand. As their parents/carers, we can feel confused as to what might be happening for our child and how we can best help them. Your child might be behaving in ways that frighten you (e.g. violent outbursts or self-harming behaviours) or in other ways that concern you (e.g. increasingly anxious or withdrawn behaviour, refusing school etc.). You may have attended parenting courses, read books or spoken to friends/family, but still feel at a loss as to what to do to help your child and how to feel connected to them again. Now is the time to seek help.

I offer both short-term and long-term support - using creative and expressive arts to help you to explore and understand your thoughts and feelings, especially if you sometimes have difficulty putting things into words. I welcome people who identify as LGBTQIA+ and people who are neurodivergent, including late-diagnosed or self-diagnosed autistic adults. I am committed to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice, and I provide inclusive, non-judgemental support - particularly for people who have experienced stigma or discrimination in the past.

I am a chartered psychologist drawing on eastern philosophies, compassion focused practices and evidence based psychology to help clients fully understand experiences, to create dialogue and compassion for all the different emotions, thoughts, behaviours, impulses experienced. Living as a human can be confusing, complex and lonely and through my work I help clients to create more clarity and to develop ways of offering kindness to painful experience. I draw on talking, role plays, meditations, visualisations and other practices that might help get to know experiences in more depth.

I offer a bespoke CBT, counselling and therapy service. During our sessions, we will work together, to find out how best I can help you and ensure that your needs are met. During the first few sessions, we aim to set some goals together to enable you to see your progress in therapy, we regularly monitor how you are doing, so that we can ensure that we are always on track to help you achieve your goals. As the sessions progress you will learn new ways of thinking, behaving and seeing the world in a different light. You can then use all the new skills you have learned to successfully manage your own problems.

I firmly believe that the therapeutic relationship is the main vessel of real change. Therapy is a journey to be embarked safely, and it can help you to deal with your pain. Together, we can try to explore that pain or uncertainty that hinders the possibility you have to live a full and meaningful life. We will work together towards your objectives; it doesn't matter how far they seem now or how painful is to think about them.

As a CBT therapist and midwife I understand the barriers you might feel asking for help during the perinatal period (pregnancy, birth or postnatally). Many people struggle to talk about their anxiety, depression or doubts and worries about being a parent. You might feel judged or that you have failed in some way and there can be a real sense of pressure to feel positive throughout, making it sometimes feel really hard to admit you are struggling, so I understand just how significant asking for help is. Reaching out is positive and is the first step towards recovery - of your sense of self, your self worth and your wellbeing.