Supporting individuals, couples, and women with experiences of abuse

People come to me for help in their relationships with others and with themselves. I support individuals, couples and women with experiences of abuse/coercive control to understand themselves and their situations better so they can respond with more choice rather than react to what is happening to them.

Areas of specialty

Some areas where I have a particular passion, expertise or lived experience are:

  • Couples counselling
  • Separation and divorce
  • Parenting
  • Immigration & acculturation
  • Family of origin issues
  • Trauma
  • Intimate Partner Abuse/Coercive Control
  • Relationship challenges
  • Faith struggles
  • Grief & Loss
  • Life transitions
  • Youth & Young Adults
  • Women
  • Gender exploration
  • Self worth
  • Emotional regulation
healthy young multiethnic couple jogging across the bridge in the city at early morning with sunrise in background

Couples counselling

Couples often come for therapy to improve their communication and grow in their relationship with each other. Sometimes couples need support to make a big decision. Other times couples want help in dissolving the relationship. Whatever the reason you are seeking out support, I can help you to have the conversations you have been putting off or simply struggling to have without fighting. 

I use The Developmental Model of Couple’s Therapy to guide clients from assessment of the issues, through individual goal setting, and into the work which will lead to change and growth. My approach involves therapy sessions as well as self reflective exercises done outside of session. A major part of the work is to develop the skill of differentiation so that you can each know what it is you think and feel as individuals, be able to share those thoughts and feelings with each other, and be able to tolerate the inevitable differences between you while remaining emotionally steady. 

Individual counselling

I support individuals in knowing themselves better so they can have more choice in how they respond to the challenges of their everyday lives. You might be struggling with anxiety or depression or perhaps you experience a lot of anger. Whatever is troubling you we will get to know that aspect of you and understand its intention. 

I use Internal Family Systems as my main approach. This model sees us as having many different parts of our personality that exist to help us. Sometimes these parts can become stuck in extreme roles which are no longer really helping us. Over time you will get to know these different parts, hear their stories and get to know who it is they are protecting within your system. We can then bring healing to those wounded parts of you and you will feel relief from the extreme symptoms you have been having.

Smiling woman in a therapy session on a comfortable sofa.
A romantic couple holding hands while walking towards the sunset by the beach, surrounded by autumn scenery.

Women with experiences of abuse and/or coercive control

I support women who have been subject to abuse by an intimate partner. This experience is a confusing, scary, crazy-making one and I know first hand what it is like as a survivor myself. So often abuse has not been obviously physical which can lead to women struggling to identify their experience as abuse. I help women explore their situation and support them to make decisions for themselves. There are no simple solutions and women are doing the best they can in very difficult circumstances. I am a knowledgeable and caring guide along the road.

I use the When Love Hurts model to help women to understand the cycle of abuse and the three phases of honeymoon, tension building and explosion. We look at all the many tactics of abuse used to gain power and control such as financial abuse, spiritual abuse, social abuse, emotional abuse, conversational abuse and sexual abuse to name a few.