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My enthusiasm and love for therapy was born out of my own deeply meaningful, and positive experiences, with both personal therapy.
I had never had therapy before when a sudden bereavement of someone incredibly important to me left me battling waves of grief which I felt I couldn't overcome on my own.
I sought out a therapist with the intention of working solely with my grief, however over time I also learned incredibly valuable things about myself, my relationships, my core beliefs, hopes, and fears, which helped me reflect on my life and change it's direction for the better.
Why I Trained As A Therapist
Knowing how powerful therapy is, as well as creativity (thanks to my decade-long theatre career) led me to train as a Dramatherapist so that I could offer a unique approach to therapy which goes beyond words.
Alex (she/her)
My Approach
Before I speak to my training and modalities, I like to describe what you can expect in therapy with me. Over the years I have found that there are 3 key ingredients that make therapy effective when used in combination:
1. Explore and Understand Your Thoughts and Feelings
Thoughts and feelings, whilst uncomfortable and often scary, aren't pointless. They are communications. Together we explore your thoughts and feelings, help you to understand why they are there and what to do with them, and utilise psychoeducation and tools from ACT and CBT to help reframe unhelpful beliefs and support a healthy relationship to the full spectrum of your emotions. You don't need to constantly distract or push down your feelings, this only guarantees they feel more out of control.
2. Consider The Impact of Stories and Roles
Stories are a vital way in which we make meaning of ourselves, and other people. These same stories and the roles we feel we play can also impact how we feel. Together we will consider the stories in your life; the ones you tell about yourself, your past, present, and future and the roles you tend to play. We will also think about stories told about you by others and how they may have shaped your view of yourself, or put you in a role you do not want. We can then imagine possibilities for new roles, or close the chapter on old stories, in order to move yours forward meaningfully.
3. Cultivate Inspiration
My goal as your therapist is to move you through what currently feels like it is holding you back, and onwards into a life that feels more alive. I'm a strong advocate that therapy shouldn't be an exchange of blank stares, and endless questions, that circle us around and around. No, instead I want you to feel challenged and inspired to make a change. I want us to find out what lights you up, because inspiration is a healthy fuel for motivation, and we need that motivation to make those long-lasting changes. That is why you will find I offer a lot of creative psycho-education to get you up and out of the chair, and thinking in different and new ways. I'll invite you to try new things in sessions because that is how we grow and build confidence.
My therapy is integrative but I am not a 'jack of all trades' therapist. My style of therapy is honed from the combination of my experience as a therapist and as a creative, and bringing those worlds together to help you develop psychological flexibility.
My Qualifications
I have a Masters level degree in Dramatherapy from the University of Derby, and am a Health and Care Professions Council registered arts psychotherapist. Dramatherapists are clinicians who utilise psychotherapy (traditional talking therapy) alongside creativity for therapeutic benefit.
I am also trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a values based therapeutic intervention, and am CBT informed having worked with CBT therapists and supervisors, as well as having undergone my own CBT therapy.
I am currently embarking on a rigorous supervisor training that will allow me to supervise other therapists in imaginative yet highly considered ways.
I have experience as a therapist working for well-respected organisations such as Mind, Off The Record, 1625 Independent People, Next Link, the NHS Children's and Adolescent's Mental Health Services (CAMHS), the NHS Adult Mental Health Services, as well as within educational institutions.
Prior to becoming a therapist I accumulated a decades' worth of experience utilising arts and creativity as powerful vehicles for self-development and connection, as a Director, Theatre-Maker, and Producer. I continue to work as a facilitator. My arts experience has seen me work in collaboration with well known charities, arts organisations, statutory services, and educational institutions such as Theatre Royal Plymouth, Cardboard Citizens, Mind, Salvation Army, Milestones Trust, Bravo 22 Company, Exeter University, and Bath Spa University.
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