Counselling and Psychotherapy

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness” (Viktor Frankl)

I believe that effective psychotherapy can turn your world around. By helping you recognise difficult feelings and unwelcome behaviour and then identify and dismantle the self defeating patterns of thought that create them, therapy can offer the raised awareness and emotional support you need to bring about a deep and lasting life transformation.

My clinical experience includes working with a diverse range of clients aged from 21 to 60 on issues surrounding anxiety, depression, trauma, shame, low self worth, bereavement, identity, loneliness, anger management, OCD, ADHD, addiction, career, race, sexuality, family conflict and relationships. 

As someone of Chinese heritage born and raised in Britain, I have first hand experience of growing up as part of a minority community and appreciate the complexities around identity and culture that this situation brings. I work with many clients who face similar challenges of feeling ‘othered’ be they around race, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity or otherwise. Although English is my first language, I also speak Cantonese. 

Additionally, I specialise in issues connected with relationships, existential problems like meaning and purpose and work related challenges especially in the creative industries. I see a number of clients in the arts and entertainment field. Previously, I worked as a counsellor to young musicians and actors at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

My background is as a documentary film director where I worked both as an independent freelancer and as a staff employee for the BBC. Over the course of twenty years, I gained valuable insight into both the challenge of forging a career within a corporation and the struggle of looking for work independently. Originally, I trained as a solicitor so I also have a wide practical understanding of how conflict, negotiation and reconciliation can impact everyday relationships. 

Through this combination of life experience, specialist training and a natural, non judgemental affinity with a diverse mix of people, I believe I can offer you a safe and empathetic environment to explore whatever issues block your full potential and hold you back from living the rich emotional life that you deserve. 

Drawing on both my clinical work and my twenty years experience in the entertainment industry, I am well placed to help people deal with the mental and emotional fallout of working in high pressure, competitive and creatively demanding jobs and professions.

Recently more and more attention has been drawn to mental health issues in the workplace around working routines, procrastination, optimising our work/life balance and meeting new technical challenges like AI.  

Typical issues range from burnout, bullying, and "Imposter Syndrome" to the emotional fall out of failure and success. With first hand experience of contrasting working environments, I can provide an empathetic, non judgemental space in which to share and explore your particular situation. 

Working closely with people in the public eye when I produced films has given me a unique insight into the concerns and challenges of clients who are particularly sensitive to how they are perceived through traditional and social media. It has also helped me appreciate how similar processes affect millions of people who struggle with social anxiety.

The pressure to perform in public brings its own special set of issues like performance anxiety, paralysis and creative block leading to stress, depression and low self esteem. Public scrutiny can act as a pressure valve in these circumstances to accelerate the process of deteriorating mental health.

My previous media experience helps me understand how social exposure and pressure can amplify expectations around having to perform and I offer a safe, non judgemental environment in which to explore such issues in depth.

My principle training is in Gestalt Therapy as practiced at the internationally renowned Metanoia Institute in London but I also draw on other modalities according to your particular needs. My goal is to raise your awareness and to help you have greater agency over how you live your life. 

Alongside traditional talking therapy, I use a range of experiential techniques including body process, enactment, schema work, creative expression, internal dialogue and visualisation tailor made to suit your unique circumstances.

My work is also informed by my personal interest in Conscious Dance and Kinaesthetic Resonance which emphasises the felt sense of how we are moved by others in relationship. By tuning into both your and my own somatic responses during sessions, this can support clients in uncovering and shifting unconscious patterns held in the body. This work is especially effective in addressing attachment wounds, trauma, habitual relational dynamics, and blocks to intimacy.

I believe that therapy succeeds or fails on one key factor. My relationship with you. I see our work together as a collaborative venture where we figure out between us what methodology best suits your personality. My priority is to build a bond of trust and understanding based on empathy, mutual respect and non-judgement. 

For me, this means bringing the whole of my life experience, training and humanity into our relationship and attending to your needs with sensitivity and compassion so that you feel fully seen, heard and appreciated.