My Approach

How I work

People come to me at many different points in the journey towards and through parenthood. You may be wondering whether you want to become a parent, trying to conceive, pregnant, adjusting to becoming a parent, struggling in your relationship, or concerned about your baby or young child.

Becoming a parent can bring unexpected feelings and experiences to the surface, including thoughts about our own childhoods and how we were parented. Sometimes the difficulty is clearly connected with a baby or child; at other times the focus may be on your own emotional wellbeing, identity or relationships.

My approach is integrative and flexible, with a psychodynamic and psychoanalytic foundation. This means we can think together about what is happening now, while also being curious about earlier experiences and patterns that may be influencing how you feel or relate to others. I adapt the way I work according to your individual needs rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

Who I work with

I work individually with people who are contemplating parenthood, pregnant, becoming parents or navigating the emotional changes of early family life.

My specialist training is in Parent–Infant Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. When working with parents and babies or young children, I pay particular attention to the child's emotional experience and communication, as well as the parent's. Together we can think about what your baby or child may be communicating and what may be happening within your relationship.

I also work therapeutically with parental couples where pregnancy, becoming parents or early family life has affected their relationship. This might include conflict or distance, differences around parenting, changes in roles and identity, or changes in closeness and intimacy.

People come to me for many reasons, including:
wondering whether to become a parent
pregnancy and the transition to parenthood
antenatal or postnatal anxiety and depression
pregnancy or baby loss, and difficult experiences of trying to conceive
fear of childbirth and birth trauma
bonding or attachment concerns
difficulties around a baby's sleep, feeding, crying or development
understanding your baby's emotional experience and communication
parental identity and experiences from your own childhood
family and relationship difficulties
the impact of becoming parents on a couple's relationship, closeness and intimacy

You don't need to know exactly what kind of therapy you need before getting in touch. We can use an initial consultation to think together about what is happening and whether I may be able to help.

Sessions and fees
I work online and in person in Willesden Green, London.
Individual and parent–infant sessions are 50 minutes and cost £70. Sessions with parental couples are 50 minutes and cost £100.
An initial consultation is usually 70 minutes and costs £90.
Some people come for a relatively short, focused piece of work, while others find longer-term psychotherapy helpful. We can decide together what feels appropriate and review this as the work develops.
I also offer a limited number of reduced-fee spaces, depending on availability.

About Me

Hello. I am a UKCP-registered Parent–Infant Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist with over 15 years' experience working with parents, babies, young children and families. Alongside my private practice, I work in the NHS with Brent PAIRS (Parent–Infant Relationship Service), supporting parents and babies where there are difficulties in the developing parent–infant relationship.

I specialise in the psychological and emotional experience of becoming a parent, from contemplating parenthood and pregnancy through to early parenthood, infancy and the early years.
Becoming, or considering becoming, a parent can bring profound changes to our sense of ourselves and our relationships. It can stir up thoughts and feelings about our own childhoods and families, as well as hopes, fears and uncertainties about the kind of parent we might become. Pregnancy, birth and early parenthood can also place considerable emotional, physical and relational strain on individuals and couples.
I offer a thoughtful, non-judgemental space in which these experiences can be explored. I work with individuals and parents, and I also work therapeutically with parental couples where difficulties around becoming parents, early parenthood or family life are affecting their relationship.
My specialist training in parent–infant psychotherapy means that the baby's or young child's emotional experience is an important part of how I think about families. Babies communicate through their behaviour, bodies, emotions and relationships long before they can tell us in words what they are experiencing. I help parents think about and make sense of these communications, while also paying attention to what may be happening emotionally for the parent.

Sometimes the work focuses primarily on the relationship between a parent and their baby or young child. At other times, the focus may be more on the parent's own emotional life: their identity, relationships, experiences of pregnancy or parenthood, or aspects of their own childhood that have been brought into sharper focus through becoming a parent.
I am also interested in the ways that becoming parents can transform a couple's relationship, including changes in closeness, conflict, roles, identity, sexuality and intimacy.
My work holds several perspectives in mind: the individual experience of the parent, the relationship between parents, the developing infant or young child, and the relationships forming within the family as a whole.
My interest and commitment to this field have also been informed by my own experience of parenthood, including perinatal anxiety and depression.

Background

My professional experience with parents and young children began in 2009, when I founded and ran a charity supporting highly vulnerable parents and young children in Cambodia. We developed early-childhood development and family-support programmes in which emotional wellbeing and mental health were central.

In 2015, I began working as a birth and postnatal doula alongside my other work, providing emotional and practical support to parents during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period.

From 2016 to 2022, I trained in Parent–Infant Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the School of Infant Mental Health, beginning supervised clinical work in 2019. My training included psychoanalytic psychotherapy, infant and early-childhood development and mental health, infant observation, attachment, pregnancy and the transition to parenthood, perinatal loss and difficulties that can arise in infancy and early family relationships.

Alongside my private practice, I currently work within the NHS in Brent PAIRS (Parent–Infant Relationship Service). I previously worked for Cocoon Family Support until 2021 and have continued to work with families who might otherwise struggle to access psychotherapy.

I work with

• Children and young people
• Couples
• Families
• Individuals

Special Interests

Like all UKCP registered psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors I can work with a wide range of issues, but here are some areas in which I have a special interest or additional experience.

Types of Therapies Offered

• Parent Infant Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist

What I can help with

• ADHD
• Adoption
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Family
• Infertility
• Mental Health Issues
• Obsessions
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Parents
• Stress