BIOGRAPHY 

 

 

An excellent school teacher inspired my fascination with language and literature in my early years. I attended Chester College to study for my BEd Degree in September 1986 and studied Psychology / Art and Education. I realised that I enjoyed working with challenging students in challenging areas . I taught by choice in Toxteth in Liverpool just after the riots. The experience was rewarding and the school had a wealth of dedicated and committed teachers from which I learned a lot not just about the subjects I was teaching but also the different ways in which we learn, how we store information and how to modify subject matter so that students have the best opportunity to absorb it and make it their own. My experience also taught me to look at the bigger picture – not just a student in a room but also their family background / support structure / how their family impacted on them and so on. I had an interest in how the mind worked. My father was a GP who specialised in mental health until he retired recently and my mum was a midwife so there was a lot of medical influence at home. 

I came to Milton Keynesin 1999 and again took a teaching position however my husband was going through a tough time with his business and asked that I take some time out to help him which I did. We both worked really hard but I was often aware that ‘something was missing.’ I did miss the teaching and the interaction, the connections, the challenges that teaching had given me previously and the fact that no day or any individual is the same. I missed the physical and mental preparation it takes to plan a lesson that will give each individual the best chance to succeed on that day. 

I noticed an advert for a hypnotherapist in a magazine who I decided to call one day for a chat and – as they say – the rest is history. He helped me to find where I was and to understand where I wanted to be very quickly indeed. My perspective on life changed immediately and for the better. He gave me back ' time ' which I felt was just racing by week after week. He helped me to appreciate today – right here / right now. My days began to feel like weeks. I stopped racing. I was so fascinated with what he said and how he said it and with the entire therapeutic process – I felt I had finally found me hence my career now as a full time Clinical Hypnotherapist. 

The Importance of Therapeutic Alliance. 

 

I believe the effectiveness of any treatment programme depends very much on the quality of the therapeutic alliance between me and you. The Oxford English Dictionary definition of Therapeutic states ‘ relating to the healing of disease/ having good effect on the body and mind’ with Alliance being ‘ the state of being allied or associated / a relationship or connection.’ 

 

For me, therapy involves a reciprocal role relationship. Two people have a set of expectations about eachother. The therapist is expected to undertake a series of actions, including ( though not necessarily all of these ) the taking of history of the client’s problem, an examination of the problem, a diagnosis, some statement about the prognosis, the treatment itself and the monitoring and evaluation of the treatment. And even when ultimately the change process itself is the responsibility of the client ( they have to truly desire it and often work hard to achieve it ), the solution to the problem is always in some way in the hands of the therapist. 

For example, Change is a process of becoming whole, even though a cure ( in some cases ) may not be possible. In nature, we are born, we grow, we mature, and we die, just as the seasons unfold in a year. If illness perhaps is accepted as a change in the rhythm of life that can hold out new learning and new challenges, then we can learn from illness as a teacher. Hypnosis and meditation help us to slow down enough to savour the experiences of life good and bad. 

 

The therapeutic alliance is about balance and understanding between client and therapist with both parties working together. Healing is a much broader term or expectation than ‘ curing ’ since we may not be able to ‘ cure something ’ but we can work together on ‘healing’ a response to it. I will listen to you and hear what you are saying to me and will use proven language skills and techniques such as Neuro linguistic programming ( NLP ) and cognitive behavioural therapy ( CBT ) to really make sure that both you and I understand where you are now and where you want to be – your desired outcome. 

 

I will share these skills with you so you are able to practise them therefore enabling you yourself to maintain whatever your desired outcome is. The new skills you learn will not just help with existing the problem, you will find that they naturally help with others you may have in your life. For example becoming the weight you would like to be may also help you with other control or desire issues.