About Me

PERSONAL STATEMENT
I work online and outdoors offering walking therapy on Hampstead Heath, London NW3. Equine therapy optional. I work with adolescents and adults for trauma, depression, anxiety, LGBT+, gender & sexuality, relationship issues. Initial contact session free of charge.

ABOUT ME

I work with a variety of clients with emphasis on adolescents and young adults. My work is mainly outdoors as well as online, instead of an enclosed office space. This is partly due to my belief that we need to make therapy more accessible and get our bodies moving to work more effectively with trauma while also encouraging to reconnect ourselves to nature.

Natural outdoor spaces are important for our health and wellbeing for many reasons. Most of us may feel a sense of peace and calm when we are in nature. We feel more present in a way that enables us to observe our experiences in a more mindful way. Especially in dense urbanised areas the sense of personal space and personal empowerment can often feel compromised. I work on Hampstead Heath in North London which is easily accessible through public transport.

My main areas are trauma, low self-esteem, LGBT+, gender & sexual diversity, relationship issues, depression, anxiety, addictions, self-harm, grief, and life transitions. Equine assisted psychotherapy can also be offered. The first initial session is offered free of charge.

I may be an 'unusual' therapist due to my varied and diverse past training and applying a more embodied and holistic approach.

Working with people outdoors means that my office has turned into open green spaces as well as varied sheltered woodland with much wildlife. There is great diversity and rich engagement with the natural external world in the therapy process that can contribute to the overall healing process which would not be possible in the same way sitting still indoors in a therapy room. Having access to nearly 800 acres of these natural spaces, the air is clean and diverse life happens around you: birds chirping, squirrels foraging, and much other wildlife, trees and plants that hold the space. It can make us forget that it is still part of the big concrete jungle we live in – the city of London. To find out more about Hampstead Heath, see here: https://www.thewalkingtherapist.co.uk/hampstead-heath.

Most people probably think of therapy as sitting in a small office opposite and head on with a therapist, which can be quite disconcerting esp to younger people. I found that walking in nature side by side can often be more effective than traditional ways of working. It is moving our bodies forward - literally and symbolically. This is particularly useful for people in transition, grief, life crisis, and feeling stuck. Research has shown improvements in depression, anxiety, mood and self-esteem, among other things. If you like to know more contact me and find out more on my website: www.thewalkingtherapist.co.uk and here: www.adadsu.com/walk-and-talk/

I am UKCP accredited psychotherapist and have been in private practice in different clinical capacities since 2008. Online Therapy sessions can be carried out in different formats (video, email, chat). My passion is to make therapeutic support more accessible to a wide range of people, particularly young adults and adolescents. This includes embracing new ways of working and new technologies through our exclusive Online Therapy (http://adadsu.com/online-therapy/) services.

Walking therapy sessions, or “Walk & Talk” sessions, are taking place in Hampstead Heath on agreed days and times. Nature and the outdoors have special abilities to help us calm and encourage healing. How we behave, move and engage in this dynamic space gives a lot more information about how we may behave and relate to our inner and outer worlds in general. Often this happens in very naturally, and through metaphoric and embodied ways that can be very powerful for our healing processes and can enhanced therapy outcomes.

This is uniquely offered through ‘Walk & Talk’ Therapy (www.thewalkingtherapist.co.uk and http://adadsu.com/walk-and-talk/). Equine Assisted Therapy sessions can be optional and unique in its own way (http://adadsu.com/equine-therapy/). Feel free to contact me for more information and if you have any other questions.


EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

I am the founder and director of www.thewalkingtherapist.co.uk and the parent umbrella company ADADSU Ltd. (http://adadsu.com/), a London-based company that provides Outdoor Therapy (Walk & Talk Therapy, Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy) and Online Therapy for adolescents and young adults. The focus of my work is trauma, grief, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, self-harm, LGBT+, and gender, sexuality and relationship issues. These approaches are offered in a more holistic and integrative way to more sustainably improve mind-body-spirit health and wellbeing.

I offer long-term and short-term contracts and use an integrative relational and embodied approach drawing from different therapeutic modalities. My training experience includes working with children and young people through play therapy, psychodynamic as well as brief outcome-oriented and solution-focused approaches. Part of this includes mindfulness, embodied (somatic) approaches, hypnotherapy, equine-assisted psychotherapy, HeartMath®, and other energetic healing approaches.

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Learning can be offered on request. My experience and initial foundations in this area included training with LEAP and EAGALA. For more on this unique approach see http://adadsu.com/equine-therapy/.

Apart from my private practice experience, I held previous psychotherapist positions including Roehampton University working with young adults and a rich diversity of students, Place2Be Charity working in a Lambeth school with young adolescents, Wandsworth Early Intervention in Psychosis service in South West London and St George’s Hospital Mental Health NHS Trust for young adults, and West London Centre for Counselling in Hammersmith working with adults of all ages.


TRAINING & EDUCATION

• Eco-Therapy Training | Confer, UK
• Training in Gender, Sexuality & Relationship Diversity | Pink Therapy
• Certificate in Working Alongside Trans, Gender Diverse and Questioning People | Gendered Intelligence (GI)
• Diploma in Online Counselling and Psychotherapy | Academy for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy
• Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Practitioner Certification | LEAP and EAGALA
• Post-Graduate Diploma in Outcome-Oriented Psychotherapies | Awaken School of Outcome-oriented Psychotherapies, UK
• Family Constellations Therapy I Certificate | Jessica Riberi & Inge Grethe, Nordisk NLP Akademi, Denmark
• Level 4 Certificate in Counselling for Children | Place2Be Charity, UK
• HeartMath® Provider Training | HeartMath® Institute | California, USA & UK
• Clean Language and Metaphor Therapy | Clean Change Company, UK
• Certificate in Self-Relations Therapy, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Generative Trance and Coaching | Stephen Gilligan, PhD | San Diego, California, USA
• Ericksonian Hypno-Psychotherapy in Clinical Practice Certificate | BeeLeaf Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, UK
• Applied Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice™ (AFMCP™) Certification | Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM), USA
• Master NLP Practitioner & Coaching Certification | Awaken Consulting Ltd.
• BSc (Hons) Nutritional Therapy | 1st class honours | Middlesex University, UK
• Diploma in Economics | Heidelberg University, Germany


PROFESSIONAL LICENSING

• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
• Association for Counselling & Therapy Online (ACTO)
• Licensed HeartMath® Providers Register


OTHER AREAS I DEAL WITH

LGBT issues, transitions, Expatriate counselling, relationships, trauma, psychosomatic complaints (unexplained conditions), pain management

I work with

• Individuals
• Private healthcare referrals

Types of Therapies Offered

• Hypno -Psychotherapist

What I can help with

• Abuse
• Addiction
• Adoption
• Age-related Issues
• Anger Management
• Anxiety
• Bereavement
• Bullying
• Chronic Illness
• Cultural Issues
• Depression
• Disability
• Domestic Violence
• Eating Disorders
• Employment Difficulties
• Gender
• Health-related Issues
• Identity Problems
• Mental Health Issues
• Online Counselling
• Parents
• Phobias
• Physical Abuse
• Post-Traumatic Stress
• Relationships
• Sex Problems
• Sexual Abuse
• Sexuality
• Spirituality
• Stress
• Suicide
• Telephone Counselling
• Transgender
• Trauma
• Workplace Counselling