I am trained both as a clinical psychologist and a psychotherapist offering sessions to those who are 18 years and over. I have spent many years working as a clinical psychologist within HSE mental health services and child development teams. I believe that my training, both in psychology and psychotherapy, has allowed me to develop myself both in the science and art of clinical practice.

My working history also means that I am familiar with traditional public and private mental health services and the labels and diagnoses with which people may have come to identify, or indeed dis-identify. Thus, I am sensitive to what someone may have experienced in going through that process and how it may have helped them or not. However, it is important to state that, although I have familiarity with that world and the language used within it, I do not work from a medical model. I align myself closely with the non-pathologising “Drop the Disorder” and “Power Threat Meaning Framework” (PTMF) values and mentality and am interested primarily in people’s personal experiences of the world and desire to make meaning of these experiences.

I work with anyone who:

• Wishes to understand themselves, their identity, their wider story, and how their past links to the now
• Is experiencing distress of any sort
• Has experienced trauma, especially developmental trauma, or other difficult childhood experiences
• Has or has not been through the medical model and wishes to “push beyond” or away from it in order to understand issues through another lens
• Wishes to explore current experiences or difficulties with the self, with others, and with the world
• Wishes to “grow” from their experiences, whatever those experiences might be, so they can engage more fully in life
• Wishes to have another person join them in exploring their experiences

The difficulties experienced by people may manifest as “symptoms”, coping strategies, or particular ways of interpreting the world (i.e., behavioural, emotional, mental, physical / physiological, intrapersonal, interpersonal, or spiritual).

I work from a humanistic, integrative, and psychodynamic approach; I also have a strong interest in a neurobiological approach to understanding and working with trauma. I previously trained in Mentalisation Based Therapy, and more latterly in Compassion Focussed Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy; I have been supervised by key people from these latter fields.