FAQs

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a therapeutic approach based on making real, meaningful changes in your life, where that’s possible, and finding ways to live with the things that you can’t change (for example traumatic memories, losses, or life-changing health conditions). ACT is part of the CBT family of therapies, because it involves working directly with your thoughts and changing your behaviour, but it focuses on your relationship with your thought processes and emotions, rather than on the content. It is often a good fit for people who haven’t got on well with traditional CBT, and in my experience is particularly well suited to neurodivergent people.

Jon Kabat-Zinn summarises mindfulness as choosing to pay attention to the present moment, without judgement. Others describe it as stepping into “being mode”, rather than our usual “doing mode” where we tend to be caught up in our plans or ideas or memories, and we can lose touch with the here and now. Mindfulness can be in the form of meditations, staying still and quiet while focusing on something like your breath or your body, but this way doesn’t work for everyone, particularly if you have a “fidgety” brain, or your physical disability or body-related distress makes this kind of practice inaccessible for you. Many other practices can look very different from mindfulness meditation but can still help you to experience more physical calm and mental clarity.

Our earliest experiences with caregivers, and significant relationships throughout our lives, create templates for the ways in which we relate to other people and how we expect to be treated. We learn to understand ourselves in relationships with others – they tell us about what we are like, and what we deserve, but they are not always accurate or helpful. Working with attachment in therapy means understanding the impacts of the relationships that have shaped us, and finding new ways to relate to other people so we can experience more trust and intimacy, while feeling safe and loved.

Neurodivergence is a term that recognises that, while all of our bodies and brains are different from each other, the majority of people experience the world in broadly similar ways, while people with specific neurodivergences (such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and many more) have fundamentally different ways of processing information, leading to very different patterns of sensory experience, communication and behaviour. I am firmly committed to a neuroaffirmative approach, in which all neurotypes are respected and valued equally, and all people deserve whatever support is necessary to give them equal access to a world that may not be designed with them in mind.

I am insured to work with people ordinarily resident in the UK, and am a registered provider for BUPA, Modern Health and WPA. I also work with self-funding clients. A 50-minute appointment, for assessment or therapy or post-diagnostic support, costs £120. A full assessment for autism, with a detailed report and a follow-up session, costs £1500. An ADHD assessment costs £1200. A joint assessment for both autism and ADHD costs £1800.