Hi, I am a senior mental health nurse and EMDR therapist. I work with both adults and children. I have been qualified in nursing for 21 years; completing my nursing diploma in 2002 and over this time, have worked in many areas of mental health. I went on to complete my BA Honors degree in ‘Mental Health Practice’ 4 years later.

I have extensive experience in working with various mental health difficulties with children and adults including:

• Anxiety Disorders – such as OCD, Intrusive Thoughts, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety and Phobias.
• Depressive illnesses, Affective disorders,
• Emotional Dysregulation, Personality disorders,
• Sleep Problems,
• Adjustment disorders,
• Stress – including family, relationship, work stress.
• I also have worked with more severe mental illnesses such as Psychosis and Major Affective Disorders as a community psychiatric nurse.

I can offer assessment and formulation of mental health problems and then provide interventions which include: active counselling skills, advice, psychological education, support and training on the development of effective coping strategies and skills to help manage symptoms. I believe a good understanding and assessment of what a client is experiencing is crucial, in order to get to the root cause of the problem and to help the client make sense of their experiences.

My true passion is for EMDR. As an EMDR therapist I have worked with many people over the years and have witnessed some amazing results, often when other therapies have had limited impact. This is why I love it. This is often because the cause of the difficulties that a client has been experiencing is due to traumatic experiences or attachment issues in childhood. I believe a lot of what we struggle with in the present is due to the past and that EMDR helps clients achieve what they really want, which is to stop being triggered and to put an end to their difficulties once and for all. Very often our early life experiences, even if at first glance, they don’t seem traumatic, can cause ongoing anxiety and depression and other physical symptoms throughout our lives. It is working on these earlier life experiences that can lead to symptom reduction and long-term change. Having had EMDR myself I have experienced this first hand.

With children and adolescents I have found EMDR to be very effective with children, often getting results very quickly. I currently work voluntarily in GP practices working with children who are struggling with the effects of trauma.

As I have worked in the NHS for the last 20 years and also held a private practice I have experience in working with various trauma presentations including single event traumas as a result of an assault (physical/sexual), accident, loss/bereavement, other one-off incidents which are seen as disturbing in some way and continue to cause trauma symptoms such as flashback, nightmares, hyperarousal, depression, anxiety, panic attacks and suicidal ideation. I also works with complex trauma including childhood trauma, attachment issues, complex grief, suicide, chronic anxiety and depression, dissociative presentations, functional neurological disorders (FND), suicidal ideation and self-harm, urge reduction or harmful behaviours.

I have studied, trained and work at various levels with other approaches including Counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(CBT), Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Solution Focussed Therapy(SFT) and hypnotherapy which allows me to deliver a more eclectic approach which for a lot of people is what is needed.

I trained as a nurse originally because I really wanted to be able to help and care for people and to give them the very best of treatment, this is something I am very committed to. I have spent time developing my therapeutic practice to do just that. I feel I have a gift to understand people and have always had a great rapport with my patients and clients. I believe at the heart of any therapy is the relationship between client and therapist and that is crucial in making any therapy work.

I look forward to meeting and working with you.

Professional Qualifications

Nursing diploma – Northumbria University
B.A. (Hons) Mental Health Nursing – Northumbria University

Further Training

Attachment­ Focused EMDR Course 2022 – Laurel Parnell
EMDR Level 1 Child and Adolescent EMDR training 2022 – Susan M.Darker-Smith
EMDR – EMDR UK – Alexander Richman – 2018
Introduction to Hypnosis – British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis – 2018
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Informed Skills Training 2014
Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) – Communicating Excellence – Nigel
Hetherington – 2014
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy degree module – Northumbria University – 2006
Solution focussed therapy degree module – Northumbria University – 2006
AEB Certificate in Counselling Theory 1 year – Counselling School of Counselling and Therapy – 1997
AEB Certificate in Counselling Skills 1 year – Counselling School of Counselling and Therapy – 1997

Professional Membership

Nursing Midwifery Council – 2002 to current
EMDR Association UK 2018 – current

Appointments

I offer face to face appointments at Durham Therapy Centre on Friday afternoons but may be able to offer some flexibility when needed. I also offer video or telephone consults however for any EMDR it would be either face to face or video only. Video platforms include Skype, Teams and Zoom.

Contact

To make an enquiry or book an appointment, please contact me on:
Tel: 07943 104 648
Email: Click here to email