My Story

The Bit When I was OK:


I was a kid who absolutely LOVED her bike! It was blue, I pretended it was a horse, and guess what I named him? Yep, that’s right…Blue! Obvious right. I would get home from school, usually go to my nan’s as mum would be working. I’d have to sit, watch the Broom Cupboard (a children’s channel back in the 80s), have a cup of tea and 2 biscuits (that was the limit) and then I was free! I would cycle around and around on Blue, completing the circle around the block, feeling the wind through my hair and thinking I was an amazing horse rider. The aim was always to be faster than the time before!


I was a kid who loved life. I was also a bit of a loner. I’d play with my Sylvanian Families, Care Bears and Sindy dolls, or I’d be reading a book, my idea of bliss. School was OK, I knew everyone, but I hated being outside in the cold! I was a lanky skinny kid with no fat on my bones – it was torture! I knew everyone in the small school, I hated school dinners and maths! But other than that, it was all good.

The Bit When I was wasn't:


Comprehensive school – BIG school arrived! I was thrown into a world that was BIG! I knew no one and after going to see Jason Donovan in concert, having a massive nosebleed and panicking, I felt completely out of control. That was it! The anxiety was overwhelming, I didn’t know what it was about, but it was ruining my life. I just wanted to be at home, in my room, where I felt safe. I missed so much school, I must’ve driven my mother mad, especially because there seemed to be no ‘real’ reason for my fear.


Fast forward a few years, having a really good teacher who just let me be. No pressure. Gave me space. One day I went to her room and announced I was going to my class. Nothing had changed other than time! The time I needed to figure out that school did not equal something terrible happening.


I left school with 1 GCSE in typing! My Careers teacher told me that the only thing I could do was train to be a secretary! So off I went and completed the course – but – nope! Not for me! I decided to train as a social worker – nope not for me either! I know, a teacher! Uh nope not for me. This discovering what I wanted to do was tough! Project manager? I loved, but I wanted more! I wanted to understand why people did what they did. I wanted to understand why I had experienced such anxiety, I wanted to know where it had gone!

And the ‘happily ever after’?

A chance conversation led me to an MA in child and family psychodynamic observation and now a doctorate in psychodynamic child and adolescent psychotherapy. I love it. I’ve learnt so much about how we become us! But my mission has always been to help children and young people understand their feelings and emotions and to parents and carers to help their child manage these feelings.


I became a mother, and my biggest fear was that my child would experience overwhelming anxiety as I had. I went on courses, I learnt new things, but it didn’t help me manage the feelings in me or my child when they arose. So, I used my own experience! What helped me and what absolutely didn’t. It worked and it continued to work. We made a plan together, it was hard work, but we worked through it together.

My mission now is to help other parents.

Find out more about working with me

What I believe

Emotions can be tricky little suckers! Making sense of them is difficult but not impossible!


  • Everyone has the ability to build the skills to support their child.
  • I still don’t and never will have everything figured out!
  • Running and Parkrun has saved my sanity, boosted my confidence and given me some of the most amazing friends to eat cake with!
  • I love reading as much as I love being in America!
  • Just say it already! And say it straight! It’ll make things so much easier!

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