My creative therapeutic approach.
On this page:
My approach to creative psychotherapy
As a creative psychotherapist, I believe in bringing curiosity, aliveness and playfulness into the therapeutic space. My own way of working is psychodynamic in nature, so anything that comes into the room will have value, albeit unconscious at first.
As children, many of us engaged in creative play to make sense of the world. We used all kinds of ‘stuff’, and we never questioned what we made. We simply gained an understanding from it, figuring things out through discovery and exploration. In many ways, the process of creative psychotherapy takes us back to this time, to these memories, or reveals to us the lack of opportunity given to us to develop a relationship with creativity and play.
Creative psychotherapy represents a different approach to ‘talking therapies’. Sometimes talking can feel too challenging. Maybe there are no words, or maybe words just aren’t enough. Or maybe you just feel stuck. Creative psychotherapy offers another way to tell your story and gain a fresh perspective on it. Working with art materials and the imagination can offer a different dimension, a new way of looking at something.
Rather than telling your story in words, it can be coloured, textured, ripped, stitched, sketched, etched, painted or imagined. In the process, your artwork may speak for you, and to you.
Through creative exploration, we can also invite the more ‘negative’ parts of ourselves out, our shadow side, welcoming them rather than ignoring or burying them. In turn, we can become aware of and ultimately process what may be holding us back.
The space to create
I’m fortunate to be based at Brookbank House in the beautiful Cheshire village of Bollington.
The space has windows at either end and is often flooded with sunlight. On brighter days, we may even take our work outdoors with us. There is a wooded area at the back of the building, and Brookbank House sits between the Middlewood Way and the Macclesfield Canal.
Creative psychotherapy – my rates
For individuals
Our first meeting is free.
Sessions are usually weekly or fortnightly. Concessionary rates available.
60 mins | £50 | Get started
For groups
Costs for creative group work vary depending on the size and function of the group itself. Contact me for details.
90 mins | £TBA | Get started
Clinical supervision
As a Creative Clinical Supervisor, I work with practitioners from a number of different modalities. Contact me for more.
60 mins | £50 | Get started
My commitment as a professional
I’m an HCPC registered Art Psychotherapist and a member of the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). I abide by the code of ethics of both these organisations. As an HCPC registrant, I am required to re-register every two years. This process ensures that I remain fit to practice by demonstrating ongoing clinical supervision and continuous professional development. I am also a member of the Art Therapy Practice Research Network and the Forensic Arts Therapies Advisory Group.
The science bit
Core qualifications
2009 – MA Art Psychotherapy Practice (HCPC & BAAT Registered)
2012 – BAAT Supervision Training (British Association of Art Therapists)
2015 – Diploma in Creative Approaches in Supervision (London School of Psychodrama)
2019 – Diploma in Groupwork Practice (Institute of Group Analysis)
Areas of interest
Compassionate inquiry
Polyvagal theory
Neuroscience
Group analysis theory
Attachment therapy
Psychodynamic therapy
Internal family systems
Family dynamics
Embodied and somatic ways of working
CPD and recent further training
March 2021:
Revolutionising Trauma Treatment (Babette Rothschild, PESI UK)
Feb 2021:
Therapist Burnout and Vicarious Trauma (Babette Rothschild, PESI UK)
January 2021:
The Hungry Ghost: A Biopsychosocial Perspective on Addiction, from Heroin to Alcoholism (Gabor Maté, CONFER)
November 2020 (ongoing):
Developmental Trauma for Professionals (Beacon House)
September 2020 (ongoing):
The Internal Family Systems Master Class (Dick Schwartz)
June 2020:
CBT for Anxiety & Depression (PESI UK)
April 2020:
Applying Polyvagal Theory (Deb Dana)
April 2020:
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk on How the Body Keeps the Score: Intensive Trauma Treatment (Online Course)
The human bit
I have always been guided by a deep sense of responsibility and community.
My background is working in prisons and other forensic therapeutic communities. There I saw so many images – of blame and shame, of pain and punishment, of them and us, of right and wrong, of perpetrator and victim – so many divisions and so much fear. Division and fear silence, and close down curiosity.
Now I have my own space for us to be open, curious and imaginative as creators, working together. I still crave community and that felt sense of connection, and I feel like I have found it here in Bollington and at Brookbank House.
I truly believe that everyone can benefit from therapy and that working with a psychotherapist should be as everyday as going to the dentist or the optician. Our mental and emotional wellbeing is so important. But therapy should always be about ‘working with’ and never ‘doing to’; it should be about giving people the agency to master their own health.
I love storytelling and great storytellers like Leonard Cohen, Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Tom Waits. I embrace multiculturalism and am proud to work with people from all parts of the world.
I’m ever grateful to Glasgow, the mother of a city. My city. It is a place located in me – its hardness and its beauty.
A note on client confidentiality
All creative psychotherapy sessions will be conducted in the strictest confidence. This confidence will be maintained and applied to any and all records in accordance with the Data Protection Act, except in the following circumstances:
Where you, the client, gives consent for the confidence to be broken.
Where I, the therapist, am compelled by a court of law.
Where the information is of such gravity that confidentiality can no longer be maintained. This usually refers to a situation where the therapist considers the client to be an imminent danger to themselves or others.
In the latter two cases, I would always attempt to speak to you first before breaking confidentiality.
In the case of my sudden death or incapacity, I have appointed a Professional Executor to inform my clients and to ensure proper referrals and the destruction of any case notes.
Because I am not a medical practitioner, it is a requirement of us working together that I have the name and contact details of your GP. If I needed to contact your GP, I would always endeavour to speak to you first.
