I hope I am able to offer you what you are looking for. I have more than forty years’ experience, having trained as a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and later as a Psychotherapist at the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute in the UK. A major part of my clinical work has been in private practice, but I have also worked in several mental health institutions, a prison, speech & hearing clinic, child protection agency, and an older adult out-patient clinic.
This is some of my background, but ultimately, when you meet me, either as an individual seeking help for your personal difficulties, a parent needing guidance with your child, a couple trying to mend your relationship, or a teenager trying to make sense of the demands of teenage hood, what you will encounter is someone who has had her own journey through life, and along the way has had to make sense of the world, not only through the ideas and wisdom of others, but also through her own life experience.
Theoretical Framework
My thinking and practice are based on the belief that relationships are fundamental to all human development – from birth through to old age. We are ‘hard-wired’ for connection and through our relatedness to others we are able to grow and develop. Relationships are the vehicle for making sense of our problems and of ourselves – they provide a compass to the world.
What I Offer
What I offer you is a safe relational context where you can find the solutions that I believe are within you. Given the opportunity to explore and reflect on your thoughts and feelings, understand your choices (some perhaps unconscious), and ponder your goals for the future, you will improve your ability to deal with the personal and relational struggles that prevent you from having a more rewarding life.
“In my early professional years I was asking myself the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his [sic] own personal growth? “(Carl Rogers)