About Me
Hi, I'm Heather
I have worked as a psychotherapist for over 14 years, mostly within the NHS, and have supported many people to overcome a wide range of difficulties. I bring my experience as a therapist, a mother, and a fellow human being to our sessions.
I am happy to work with anyone over 18 and have a special interest in supporting mothers and parents. I know first-hand that the intensity of parenthood can be the perfect environment for struggles to emerge, resurface, or intensify. I really think the best thing we can do for our children is to take care of ourselves. Sometimes doing that is really tough.
For me, parenthood exposed past difficulties I thought I had either worked through or successfully buried. These difficulties were impacting across all my relationships. I reached out for support and found that being able to choose my therapist, the therapeutic approach (in my case, EMDR), and being able to access it when I felt ready was a huge advantage. Seeking therapy privately was a big investment, financially, emotionally and practically, but the results have been worth it in every way. I am passionate about offering others that same opportunity.
I work in a way that is affirming of all identities including neurodiversity, cultural, sexual, and gender identity. I aim always to carry no assumptions, to hear your experience as you describe it, and to adapt therapy to best fit you as an individual.
Please send me a message or book your free initial consultation. I'd really like to hear from you.
Qualifications and Training
Here is a list of my core qualifications and a sample of additional training I have completed:
2024 Aimee McKinnon (OXCADAT) - PTSD & CPTSD In the Perinatal Period - BABCP Perinatal Special Interest Group
2024 Janina Fisher - Unlocking the Living Legacy of Trauma: An Immersive Workshop
2023-4 Laurel Parnell –Attachment-Focused EMDR: A clinician’s guide to healing trauma and developmental deficits
2024 Chris Irons - Using Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) for trauma: Enhanced applications for understanding and using compassion in trauma treatment
2023 Master Series Trauma Conference – multiple workshops including:
Bessel van der Kolk – The Mind-Body Connection: Approaches to Trauma Healing
Bessel van der Kolk – The Neuroscience of Expanded Awareness in the Healing of Trauma
Deb Dana – Navigating the quest for connection: a polyvagal guide to co-regulation
Linda Thai – Fawning, appeasement and the somatics of trauma within the dynamics of oppressive systems
Frank Anderson – LGTQIA+ & Trauma
Janina Fisher – Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors
Stephen Porges - Polyvgal Theory: The science of safety
Ruth Cohn - Much Ado About Nothing: The Developmental Trauma Of Childhood Neglect
2022 EMDR Training - Parts 1, 2 and 3 (1 year), Richman EMDR Training
2021 Birth Trauma and Considerations for the Perinatal Period, University of Reading
2021 Cognitive Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Oxford University
2018 - 2020 CBT Masterclasses - Advance Skills Working with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety, Generalised Anxiety, OCD, Insomnia, Oxford Academic Health Science Network
2016 IAPT Supervisor Training (CBT), University of Reading
2016 Foundation Course in Group Analysis (1 year), Institute of Group Analysis
2014 Compassion Focussed Therapy for Shame Based Difficulties, Compassionate Mind Foundation
2010 Postgraduate Diploma in Evidence-Based Psychological Treatments (CBT) (PgDip), University of Reading
2009 Postgraduate Certificate in Low Intensity Therapies (PGcert), University of York
2008 Masters in Social Work (Ma), Keele University
“The willingness to show up changes us. It makes us a little braver each time.”
Brene Brown