Professional Practice
I undertook a rigorous and long training to become a Registered Psychotherapist with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). I hold an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma (Level 7) in Integrative Psychotherapy from the Welsh Psychotherapy Institute (WPI), a member organisation of the UKCP. This involved four years of postgraduate, in-depth, experiential and practical training, followed by two further years of post-completion independent study. The UKCP is the leading professional body for training and accrediting psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors at masters level and above to work therapeutically with people with a wide range of emotional distress, mental health issues, and personal challenges.
For five years, my clinical practice took place under the aegis of WPI’s Affordable Therapy Service, along with a six-month counselling placement in a substance use recovery service.
I receive regular clinical supervision from senior clinical supervisors, hold professional indemnity insurance and have an advanced DBS certificate. I abide by both WPI’s and the UKCP’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
- I am a full clinical member of the UKCP (membership no. 2011166902).
- I am a fully trained EMDR Therapist, and a practicing member of EMDR UK (membership no. 177997).
- I am a professional member of the Welsh Psychotherapy Institute.
- I am a qualified Clinical Supervisor.
- Between 2022 and 2025, I was a member of the WPI tutor team, latterly serving as Core Tutor and Programme Leader for Year One of the PG Advanced Diplomas in Integrative and Gestalt Psychotherapy and the Diploma in Relational Counselling. For a decade, I sat on the Advisory Board to the WPI Directors, as well as various committees.
- As an independent trainer, I have delivered Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses and training events for qualified and trainee counsellors and psychotherapists, and for other organisations.
- I am a Senior Coach Practitioner accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC Global) with a EQA Postgraduate Advanced Diploma (Level 7) Senior Practitioner in Coaching qualification.
- I am a Professional Member of the EMCC UK (membership number M180777ID).
My Background
Before training and practicing as a psychotherapist, I worked with individuals and groups in universities. As a Professor of History with nearly thirty years of experience in research and lecturing, I specialised in the histories of crime, gender, violence, sexuality, emotions, and approaches to history, including psychoanalysis. Much of my work touched on the experience in the past of what we might now describe as trauma.
After experiencing the transformative power of psychotherapy to heal issues rooted in my own past and becoming a more content and authentic version of myself, I retrained in integrative psychotherapy. I initially imagined holding my two careers side-by-side, but I quickly realised that I wished to be more rooted in the psychotherapeutic world than the academic one. I left my position as Professor of Early Modern History at Cardiff University in 2017 to focus on my psychotherapy practice, although I remained as Honorary Professor of History until 2025.
Publications
My two areas of expertise have intersected in my research and publications. Some of my work as a professional historian focused on emotions in history and the ways in which psychoanalysis and other psycho-historical methods inform professional historical writing. I researched and published in the field of gender, crime and subjectivity in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, dealing with sensitive subjects that we would now consider potentially traumatic.
I have also published as a psychotherapist:
- ‘Locked down, locked in, locked out: the experience of staying at home from the perspective of relational integrative psychotherapy’. This short article on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the therapy room was published by the UK Council for Psychotherapy in a free ebook, Psychotherapy and COVID-19: Reflections on the Pandemic (March 2021).
- ‘Demedicalised Integrative Therapy’, in People Not Pathology: Freeing Therapy from the Medical Model, edited by the late Pete Sanders and Janet Tolan (PCCS books, 2023).
My longer-term research plans include psychotherapeutic and psychohistorical perspectives on ‘maladaptive’ or immersive daydreaming. I undertake peer review for research submissions to psychotherapy journals.
Psychotherapy Qualifications and Training
Postgraduate Advanced Diploma (Level 7) Senior Practitioner in Coaching (Therapist to Coach Ltd), accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC Global).
Certificate in Clinical Supervision (Metanoia Institute), which meets both UKCP requirements for supervision training and the BACP Counselling Supervision Training Curriculum.
EMDR Standard Training (with Dr Naomi Fisher, approved by EMDR Europe Association).
- IFS Online Circle - with Crystal Jones, Pamela Krause, and Richard C. Schwartz (IFS Institute) 2025-2026
- Withdrawal, Silence and Loneliness: Psychotherapy of the Schizoid Process - with Richard G. Erskine (NScience) 2025
- Fundamentals of a Developmentally-Based, Relationally-Focused Integrative Psychotherapy - with Richard G. Erskine (NScience) 2024
- Unconscious Relational Patterns, Cumulative Neglect, and Therapeutic Involvement - with Richard G. Erskine (NScience) 2025
- Applying Child Development Theory and Research in Psychotherapy with Adult Clients: Developmentally-Based, Relationally-Focused Integrative Psychotherapy - with Richard G. Erskine (NScience) 2024
- Building an Effective Neurodivergent-Affirming Practice: Working with Traumatised Adults with Undiagnosed ADHD and ASC - with Christiane Sanderson (NScience) 2024
- Ending the Flood of Shaming Self-Talk: How to Effectively Face Up to the Inner Critic - with Linda Graham (NScience) 2023
- The Role of Fantasy in Complex Trauma - with Kathy Steele (NScience) 2022
- Working with Complications and Resistance in an Online Environment - with Jamie Marich (NScience) 2021
- Taking Your Therapy Practice Outdoors (Whitepeak Wellbeing) 2020
- Relational Depth in Counselling & Psychotherapy - with Mick Cooper (Onlinevents) 2020
- Online Therapy Sessions: Focussing on Somatic Psychology and Parts Work - with Arielle Schwartz (NScience) 2020
- The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) in Psychotherapy - with Elaine Aron and Arthur Aron (Confer) 2020
- Personality Adaptations: Transactional Analysis (The Links Centre/Onlinevents) 2020
- Reflective Practice in Online Psychotherapy and Counselling (Onlinevents) 2020
- Calming the Inner Critic: Working with Punitive Introjects, Ego States, and Dissociative Parts in Trauma - with Kathy Steele (NScience) 2019
- Trauma and the Body - with Christiane Sanderson, Jamie Marich, Miriam Taylor and Kathy Steele (NScience) 2019
- The Narcissistic Dilemma: A Perspective from Relational and Integrative Psychotherapy - with Richard G. Erskine (NScience) 2018
- The Psychophysiology of PTSD and Trauma - with Babette Rothschild (NScience) 2018
- Working with Insecure and Disordered Attachment (NScience) 2018
- Beyond Shame: Recovering Pride and Self-Worth in Psychotherapy - with Paolo Bertrando (Change|talk/Reflective Practice) 2017
- Attachment for Clinicians: The Science and Art of Attachment-Informed Psychology - with Jeremy Holmes (WPP) 2017
- Working with Dreams: A Gestalt Approach (WPP) 2016
Other Qualifications:
- PhD (History), University of Liverpool, 1994
- BA (Hons) Modern History & English Literature, University of Liverpool, 1989
Ready to find out more?
Get in touch today with any questions, to arrange a preliminary chat, or to book an initial exploratory appointment.