My interest in working with people from a helping perspective began in late 1982 when employed as a residential project-worker with the single homeless of Belfast. This period represents the beginning of my attempts at understanding life, or more accurately, the life within us and how it is shaped and determined by all that lies without. As someone deeply and quietly interested in the human existential journey, this perhaps unsurprisingly led on to a study of philosophy and philosophical psychology which continues to run alongside my professional work with others. I am not however a therapist or a person who takes himself too seriously. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, life is too important for that. For me, therapy is about many things; working with strengths and weaknesses, problems and opportunities, challenge and support, sometimes tears and sometimes laughter. Yes, it is a serious business, and that is why I invite the client’s whole person and ever strive to bring all of myself to session also.

Issues I have worked with include stress, anxiety, low-mood, bereavement, sexual abuse, relationship difficulties, bipolar challenge, general mental health issues, Asperger’s Syndrome, personal development, loss, trauma, and substance abuse. During my training, at both diploma and postgraduate degree level, I was consistently assessed and graded in theoretical grasp and actual clinical practice as first-class. I endeavour to maintain these high standards in my daily practice and ever strive to learn more about human development, its rewards and its challenges. I am committed to my own ongoing development as a person and as a therapist, regularly engaging with my own supervision and with continuing professional development.

Aside from private practice I counsel with clients in a GP’s surgery and also as part of a counselling team dedicated to providing a service to persons with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), their families and carers.