More About Me

I am a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy: one of the main organizations regulating the practice of psychotherapy in the UK). I work with both children and young people, and adults. I worked for many years for the NHS as a specialist speech and language therapist, specializing in mental health, learning disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder, though I now no longer practise speech and language therapy due to the demands of my caseload with young people requiring psychotherapy.

I have been practising as a psychotherapist in Suffolk for 13 years. I also have 25 years experience working as a speech and language therapist in numerous roles for the NHS and for independent organizations and am now in independent practice. I have worked in a number of other roles as well as seeing both adults and children individually for counselling.

These Include...

• Working as a school counsellor in several different education settings.
• Acting as lecturer and course facilitator on a BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) approved counselling course.
• Running workshops and other teaching commitments in the area of child mental health.
• Serving as a UKCP committee member working on standards for psychotherapy with children.

I have had full training in the use of THRIVE and have experience of its use within school settings. I also have training and acted as a Makaton Regional Tutor for many years. I offer EMDR therapy where appropriate.

I also have training in delivering therapy online.

Glossary

THRIVE: An approach to mental health and wellbeing used in numerous schools throughout the UK: is to help children and young people become more emotionally resilient and better placed to engage with life and learning. It utilizes a whole-school approach to wellbeing – in order to support mental health and to improve attendance, behaviour, and attainment.

EMDR: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is treatment technique. It involves the making specific eye movements, while processing traumatic memories, with the therapist supporting. The aim is to help heal from trauma or distressing experiences.

MAKATON: Makaton is a language programme for people who have difficulties in communicating. It uses symbols and signs along with speech to enable people to communicate. It supports essential communication skills such as attention and listening, understanding of language, memory, recall and expressive language.

 

More About My Services

• Counselling sessions take place in a safe environment, on a one- to-one basis, though I may also offer parent-child interaction sessions to help other family members in supporting to the child, and helping relationships at home.
• Younger children often benefit from a play based approach.
• Therapy makes use of the arts to help those children who have difficulty in expressing what they feel: e.g music; pretend play; stories; painting; sand-play; modelling.
• I also work closely with families and school staff. Although I have clear guidelines for confidentiality when working with a child, some information is shared with others who know the child, in order that they too, are aware of how the child can be helped. What is shared, and to whom, is always made clear to the child at the start of therapy.
• Where necessary I will liaise closely with other services, such as childrens’ mental health services, education, social care, etc.
• Sessions take place at my therapy centre in Ipswich.
• Parent workshops, staff training, and social communication groups for children are also available.
• Both short and longer term support are available.

I welcome referrals of young people with learning disabilities, physical and sensory needs, and/or autistic spectrum disorder: I have considerable specialist experience in supporting them and their families.

My Associates

Some of the main people who work with me are:

Ruth Lo:

Ruth is a specialist speech and language therapist. She has an independent practice near Lowestoft, Suffolk, (see her website which is linked to ours, for further details). Amongst Ruth’s special interests is that of communication and mental health in children.

Usha Chudasama, and David Corr:

Usha and David are very experienced UKCP psychotherapists, both of whom have established practices in the London area. They are involved in monitoring developments and practice standards of my service.