Profile

My training was initially in psychodynamic and Gestalt approaches to psychotherapy and I have been in private practice for over twenty years. I'm a registered psychotherapist and certified poetry therapist, working at the intersection of traditional psychotherapy practice and the creative use of language. My training in psychotherapy gives me a solid clinical foundation for working with grief, anxiety, trauma, and major life transitions — while my specialisation in poetry therapy adds a distinct, evidence-informed tool for people who find that words, metaphor, and story unlock things that conversation alone sometimes can't reach.

I gained my qualification as a poetry therapist by training with iaPOETRY, a credentialling organisation training Poetry Therapy Practitioners (PTP) and Mentors. ‘Poetry’ seems a small word to encompass so much. It has become a deep passion for me, added to my love of words. My work with poetry therapy uses poetry, literature, art of all kinds, and attention to an immersive relationship with our Home, our Birthplace.

You might find this way of working helpful if you are:

• Moving through grief or loss and finding that words don't come easily in ordinary conversation
• Navigating a major life transition — a relationship ending, a career change, becoming a parent, retirement, illness or recovery
• Carrying trauma or difficult experiences that feel hard to put into a clear narrative
• Someone who has always found meaning, comfort, or clarity in reading or writing, even informally
• Looking for therapy that goes beyond talking, but you aren’t sure where to start
• Feeling like more traditional talk therapy hasn't quite reached what you're carrying

You don't need to be a writer, or even enjoy writing, to benefit from this work. Poetry therapy might mean reading a poem together and talking about what it stirs up, writing a few lines that put language to something otherwise wordless, or simply noticing the metaphors already present in how you describe your own life. The clinical psychotherapy underneath it all stays the same regardless — this is simply one more way in. 

I encourage and foster opportunities for creative writing, but particularly love the opportunity poetry therapy offers for personal reflection and a deepening of the relationship with oneself. I offer individual and group work in poetry therapy as well as in traditional psychotherapy.

Poetry Therapy, also known as Bibliotherapy, is the dynamic use of literature—poetry, prose, fiction, and non-fiction—to inspire creative expression, foster self-awareness, and support emotional well-being through writing and reflection. (iaPOETRY website)