I am a senior-accredited
practitioner and professional member of the British Association for Counselling
and Psychotherapy and I’ve been working in the field of counselling and therapy
for many years. I trained at Newcastle
University and the College of Ripon
& York St John (Leeds
University), being
awarded a Masters in Counselling with distinction. Post training I
studied transactional analysis for a year, as well as workshops in relationship
counselling with Joseph Zinker. While working in the NHS I attended
in-service mental health-related courses, together with training in
post-traumatic stress and critical incident de-briefing.
Over
some 25 years, as well as working with the Samaritans, I have worked
professionally as a counsellor, in drug and alcohol intervention services,
primary and secondary care in the NHS, and have maintained a regular private
caseload of counselling and supervision.
As
a trainer I developed and managed a range of counselling courses at Carlisle College, including an accredited diploma
course. I was privileged to assist many to develop in the profession of
psychological helping using an approach which allowed for individuality and
personal growth. The person-centred trainer, like the person-centred
counsellor or psychotherapist, is as much a companion on a shared journey as
s/he is a guide pointing out the way. To hold this belief with humility
is all-important for the therapist.
Coming
to France,
I wanted to create a place for therapeutic rest and change, which echoed the
philosophy of RD Laing and was grounded in the insights of Carl Rogers. I
believe that we have achieved that at Le Sentier Tranquille.
