For school staff, and for children and young people
I trained as a teacher, worked in schools for over twenty years, and spent part of that time as a SENDCo and senior leader. I now work as a BACP registered psychotherapist.
That combination matters. I do not need the pressures of a school explained to me, and I do not need a young person’s difficulties translated out of the language of attendance data, behaviour and EHCPs before I can understand them. I have sat on both sides.
Counselling for school staff
Working in a school takes a quiet toll.
It is rarely one thing. It is the emotional weight of holding students who are struggling, the pace that leaves no gap in the day to process anything, the responsibility that follows you home, and the slow accumulation of all of it across terms and years. Many staff arrive at a point where they are still functioning, still turning up, still doing the job well, and yet no longer feel like themselves.
That point is worth taking seriously, and it is a good time to seek support rather than waiting until something gives.
I offer online counselling and psychotherapy for teachers, teaching assistants, support staff and school leaders, with particular experience in workplace stress, burnout and trauma. I also work with the things that sit underneath, which are often longer standing than the job itself.
What people tell me they value most is not having to explain the context. You do not have to describe what a difficult Year 9 class is like, or what it costs to be the person a distressed child comes to, or why the Sunday evening feeling starts on Saturday. I already know.
Sessions are confidential, non-judgemental and shaped around you. Whether you are in a difficult period at work, carrying something older, or simply aware that something needs to shift without being able to name it, you are welcome here.
Counselling for children and young people, aged 9 to 18
I also work therapeutically with children and young people, online across the UK and face to face in Uxbridge by arrangement.
Schools see a great deal. You see the student who has stopped coming in, the one whose behaviour has changed sharply, the one who holds it together all day and whose parents describe someone unrecognisable at home. You often see it long before anyone else does, and then find that the support you want to put in place has a waiting list attached to it.
I work with young people experiencing anxiety, low mood, trauma, difficulties with emotional regulation, low self-esteem, bullying, grief, family separation, and school avoidance. I have particular experience where trauma and neurodivergence meet, including autistic and ADHD young people and those still waiting on assessment.
My approach is relational and paced. With young people whose difficulties are rooted in trauma, I work within an established phased model, which means stability and safety come before anything else. I do not push a young person into difficult material before they can hold it.
What I bring that is less common, is fluency in the school side. I understand SEN support and EHCPs, what a SENDCo can realistically offer and what sits outside their control, and how a young person’s difficulties present differently across a school day. Where it is helpful and the young person consents, I can liaise with school. Communication with schools and parents is always discussed openly with the young person first, because therapy that happens behind their back is not therapy they will use.
I am BACP registered, hold an enhanced DBS check including the children’s barred list, am fully insured, and work under regular clinical supervision with a supervisor experienced in work with young people.
Getting started
I offer a free 20 minute call, with no obligation, to talk through what is going on and whether the work is likely to help. For staff, that call is with you. For a young person, it is usually with a parent, carer or the referring member of staff first.
Full details of my approach, specialisms, fees and how to book are on my counselling website.
If you or a young person you are concerned about is in immediate distress, please contact a GP, call NHS 111, or in an emergency call 999. Samaritans are available on 116 123, Childline on 0800 1111, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.