About Me

I have more than 30 years of working with and supporting adults – including carers, people experiencing mental health challenges, people who have survived bereavement or other difficult life events, volunteers and staff members … In short, people like you and me.

I have worked as a supporter, an adviser, a trainer, a facilitator, a counsellor, a manager, a volunteer. I have worked in the voluntary, charitable and private sectors.

I have a teaching qualification, a counselling qualification and a diploma in life coaching. I was also accredited by Mental Health First Aid England to deliver MHFA training 2016-2022.

On a personal level I have:
• Adapted and re-grown following mental health challenges
• Come late in life to a long term secure relationship
• Made mistakes and learnt from them
• Invested both financially and emotionally in my mental health and wellbeing
• Been on a journey of discovery about my own wants and needs and made changes accordingly
• Been childless through circumstance
• Reviewed my life at regular intervals and made plans based on that.
• Learnt that acceptance and optimism are better than regrets and that it’s never too late to make changes.

Specialism

I try to offer what I would have wanted at different times in my life but either it wasn't available or I just couldn't find it. Broadly I have three services, although I am flexible in the way I work.
Re-write your life
This is a powerful experience as you have five sessions over three days with the chance to consider how you have got to where you are now, your level of satisfaction with your life, your strengths and interests, your values, your hopes and dreams. I will then help you to start to formulate goals you would like to work towards and actions to take. This is followed by four fortnightly sessions which give you the chance to work more on your goals and begin to see the results of your hard work. Further sessions can be added as needed.
Reset and Rebuild
Sometimes life throws us a curveball and we have to rethink our plans and perhaps deal with the grief and loss of broken dreams. This might be things like a bereavement, a relationship breakup, being childless through circumstance, a mental or physical health condition. But there are many other things that can throw us off course. Through weekly or fortnightly sessions I will give you time to express your feelings but I will also help you to start planning a different life for yourself and taking action on this.
Preparing for change
Change is part of life, but that doesn't always make it easy or straightforward to deal with. I will help you to plan for forthcoming changes such as retirement or redundancy. I will also help you if you want to make a change, such as a career change or another change of direction.

Keywords

Change, transition, loss, childless, health, redundancy, retirement, life review, values, strengths, relationship, bereavement, goals, plans, wellbeing