I have always been interested in people, and behaviours, leading me to studying Psychology at the age of 16 at the school of Psychology and Neuroscience at University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Here I obtained a BPS recognised BSc (Hons)* during which I studied the foundations of modern Psychology. During my degree (amongst other things) I studied: Developmental Psychology - covering the early stages of life; How people think, and how this links to behaviour; Neurobiology - the nervous system and the brain; Social behaviours of groups and crowds; Neuro-divergent conditions including Autism and Dyspraxia and Perception - how the brain interprets information that it receives from the world.

My BSc fuelled an interest in Perception, leading me to pursue further studies in this area. I was fortunate to win an award to carry out experiments to improve understanding of Visual Perception, culminating in an MSc and PhD from the University of Glasgow before returning to St Andrews to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and on to University of Stirling again as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.

Please note my PhD training qualifies me to be a Research Psychologist which is not the same as a Clinical Psychologist training route, it is an academic training route. You can read more about the different training routes undertaken by Psychologists here.

After 5 years as a Post Doctoral Researcher I left Academia to take up alternative forms of employment including roles with the Scottish Government and NHS.

At this point in my life I began personal therapy after realising I had significant issues I needed to work through, and found it incredibly beneficial. I would be lying if I was to say it was easy though. Therapy has been the single most difficult thing I have gone through, yet it has changed my life in the most positive way. Due to the benefit I was seeing for myself, I wanted to be able to work therapeutically with others.

In 2017 I began studying towards a COSCA qualification in Counselling skills at the Glasgow Council on Alcohol where I was selected to become a volunteer Counsellor. I used many of the skills learnt as an Counsellor to offer individual and group support on a variety of issues as a Recovery Practitioner within The Mungo Foundation. In 2020 I began studying a Masters degree in Psychotherapy at the BCPC in Bath and am able to offer my skills, knowledge and experience at a high value rate as a trainee in the 5th year of their programme. In 2020/21 I was a volunteer counsellor with HELP Counselling in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, working with people living with conditions such as anxiety and depression.

I have since opened my own practice operating from The Practice Rooms in Salisbury Wiltshire.

*The course linked is the current equivalent ant the specific content is unlikely to be exactly the same but it is very similar