NOT ON THE COUCH

Hosted Conversations with an Online Therapist

A Therapist’s Story: There Are Many Roads To Travel

Every therapist has a story; here is some of mine. I tell it so that when you sit in the space with me you will know that I empathise with your struggles because I’ve had my own.

I grew up in a military family and as a child lived between Europe and West Africa. In adulthood I’ve spent time living in Israel, backpacked in China, Russia and Australia, visited the Gulf, South Asia, the USA and lots of Europe.

I’ve loved travelling as an adult, but constantly moving in childhood was tough for me because I was quiet and shy. My education was disrupted, my attachments anxious and I experienced high levels of stress and anxiety. My coping strategy was to mask my feelings and ‘reinvent’ myself each time we moved. I was considered an “over sensitive” child, but as an adult I understand I’m an empath. The child’s burden is my gift now.

By the time I was 19 I was working and living in the Middle East and in my twenties I was married for a while, and then I wasn’t. At thirty I moved to London where I decided to reclaim my disrupted education and became a part time mature student of History of Art. To fund myself I worked in marketing, but something was wrong.

“The black dogs” as Winston Churchill called them, had escaped their cage and by my mid thirties I was in free-fall and masking wasn’t working. And that’s where my healing journey really began. There were explorations with complementary therapies and spiritual practice and eventually there was Psychotherapy. For me therapy was a positive experience. I had a wonderful Jungian/Transpersonal therapist who helped me see I wasn’t mad, wasn’t to blame, and whose wisdom I remember until today.

While in therapy I decided to train as an Psychotherapist, and I loved it. I’ve now been in practice for over twenty years and have additional trained in Somatic Experiencing , EMDR, Brainspotting, the Rewind Technique, Biofield Tuning and other Sound and Energy therapies. I specialise in treating single event and developmental trauma, attachment disorders and of course the general dysregulation of mind, body, spirit and energy field that life throws at humans.

For me being a Psychotherapist isn’t just a profession. I consider it a life-in-service from which I learn something new every day.

But back to the travel for a minute…..

In October 2020 in the middle of the pandemic I emigrated to France. A week after arriving I was up and running with my practice online, living in a little medieval street house in the middle of a French village but like millions of other people I was locked down and alone.

The house was still being renovated and it was freezing. There was an overwhelming amount of French paperwork to deal with and family and friends were miles away.

But enthusiasm and belief in a dream can take you a long way.

Four years later I’m still in France. Its been a journey of finding my courage and resilience and learning that you can make peace with ‘not knowing’.

What do I love here? Croissants of course! And there’s the view of the snow capped Pyrenees from the village where I live, browsing in Brocantes, a Sunday drive to a sandy Atlantic beach, and in the Summer months you can find me wandering with my dogs in the vineyards and fields of sunflowers near my home.

There may be other roads to travel but for now there is space and quiet and amazing sunsets. I practice gratitude every day, live simply and believe in kindness.

Join Me Online or In Person

If you’d like to join me online or in person in France for a one-to-one ‘Le Weekend’ retreat I’d love to hear from you. And if you have a dream, don’t wait. Life is short and the time is now.