As a counsellor supporting LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent individuals, I witness how systemic trauma shapes lives and communities. It ripples through time and space, touching everything it meets. But trauma isn’t the only thing that spreads. I believe compassion and love can spread too. In 2017, I visited Palestine and Israel. I saw refugee camps and the wall in the West Bank, and met Palestinians whose freedom of movement was severely restricted. Many continue to be forcibly removed from their family homes and ancestral lands. Palestinians still endure the legacy of the Nakba: living under siege, experiencing displacement, and facing violence. This isn't war. It is ethnic cleansing and genocide. I condemn the killing and targeting of civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli. No child, no mother, no person should suffer this. I hold space for those shaped by systems that distort truth and weaponise fear. I also hold deep compassion for Jewish communities, who carry the weight of historic...

Exploring how therapy can be a gift of solidarity, trust, and shared humanity—beyond privilege. In a world marked by stark inequalities, putting a price on care can feel uneasy. If you earn about £14,000 per year in the UK, you may feel as though you are living on the edge—and you are (so am I, as I maintain and grow a practice that supports both sustainability and access). Yet in global terms, this income places us among the top earners on the planet. This paradox invites reflection on privilege, precarity, and what it means to have enough. My therapy practice is shaped by these contradictions. My full fee is intentionally set at a premium. It honours the years of study, self-work, and skill that enable me to hold others safely. It recognises the hidden costs—supervision, training, the labour of tending my own nervous system so I can offer presence and clarity. And it reflects the reality that I am working-class, queer, neurodivergent, and disabled in a society that often struggles to...

In the world of therapy, words are important—yet what if the deepest healing doesn’t begin with what we say, but with how we feel and experience what’s happening inside our bodies? This is the heart of Focusing , a gentle, profound practice developed by philosopher and psychologist Eugene Gendlin, in close dialogue with the organismic approach of Carl Rogers. It's not about concentrating harder or trying to get it right. It's about listening inwardly, in a certain way—curiously, compassionately, and with trust in our organism's knowing. Carl Rogers and the Seeds of Inner Wisdom Carl Rogers, founder of the Person-Centred Approach, believed deeply in the innate tendency of all beings to grow towards wholeness when conditions are right—what he called the actualising tendency . He placed radical trust in the client’s capacity to heal when met with empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. Yet Rogers also noticed that not all clients benefited equally from ther...

 Life is complex. No one is untouched by struggle. We are all likely to go through personal loss, systemic pressures, self-doubt, or the deep sense that something is missing in our lives. However, I still believe that we are all still capable of living a contented, satisfying life. And, I believe it is possible to thrive, even after adversity. Growing up in a working-class community, I witnessed firsthand how economic struggle, addiction, and trauma tear through people's lives, and I have not been unscathed. Furthermore, as a queer and neurodivergent therapist, I witness the the struggle for acceptance and affirmation of our belonging and capacities to live well. Many of us are brokenhearted from living in ideological and capitalist systems that disconnect us from ourselves, each other, and the nature we are a part of. Typically, the people who seek therapy with me are LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, creative, or deep thinkers who want to express and develop themselves and their work and...

An Introduction to My Holistic Philosophy   Therapeutic change is neither something done to someone, nor something that happens in isolation. It happens in relationship —through presence, trust, safety, and connection. This isn’t just a personal belief. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses consistently show that the most significant factor in successful therapy is the quality of the relationship between therapist and client—not the specific modality or technique. We are relational beings. At its heart, therapy is about restoring and deepening relationship—with the Self, with others, and with the living world; the "whole" of life. The term "holistic" comes from the same root as "healing" meaning "to become whole". The 21 principles that follow express the holistic perspective from which I offer my work. They’re not a method or a promise, but a way of seeing —rooted in gentleness, curiosity, dignity, and love. We are relational and ecologica...

The following is an old Taoist parable, here translated by Paul Reps (Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, New York: Anchor/Doubleday, 1958, pages 22–23).  ~ A man travelling across a field encountered a tiger.  He fled, the tiger after him.  Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge.  The tiger sniffed at him from above.  Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him.  Only the vine sustained him.  Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away at the vine.  The man saw a luscious strawberry near him.  Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other.  How sweet it tasted! ~ Strawberry by Justus Menke