Services

What I do

My role is to help people who are pursuing performance, a personal challenge, or a lifestyle change to get the most out of themselves and maximise wellbeing. I work with people in sporting, exercise and lifestyle endeavours, but also performance in other domains such as business, career, military and the arts. Equally, I have a special interest in enhancing general psychological wellbeing, which I consider integral to optimal performance.

Regardless of age, activity or experience, my aims are to facilitate you in:

  • Understanding yourself
  • Overcoming psychological barriers
  • Delivering performances that are more reflective of your actual potential
  • Discovering and doing the things that bring you meaning in life
  • Creating habits that actively and sustainably support physical and mental health.

How I work

Psychological change, no matter how specific the area, is a whole-person endeavour. What may appear to be a context-limited challenge or goal is usually underpinned by more general psychological patterns. Therefore, a key process is understanding you as a person: who you are, why you are where you are in life, what you care about, and what changes you want to make. This occurs through in-depth reflective conversations, in which we also explore how more specific psychological elements such as thought patterns, emotions, habits, decision-making and physiology interact with what you are trying to do in life. The idea is to develop a clearer picture of what is going on – internally and externally – to chart the best course forward.

As a result, my work does not involve short-term psychological skill development – while this is a valid approach that many psychologists take, my work is about understanding the root cause of psychological challenges and supporting people in personal development in order to lead more self-determined, meaningful lives. If you would like to work with someone who will help you to develop psychological techniques over a short period of time I am very happy to refer you to trusted colleagues who will support you with this goal.

I work from an integrative perspective, meaning I draw from a range of different areas of knowledge and therapeutic training. My view is that there are universal psychological processes at play – the particular combination differing from person to person given their situation – but experiences are idiosyncratic and unique. Consequently, I focus first on understanding your own psychological set-up and experiences, and then I will share the ideas that that understanding triggers in my mind based on my professional experience. To do this, I draw from a variety of approaches in which I have been professionally trained such as chairwork models, humanistic and phenomenological counselling, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I also have a special interest in psychodynamic theories and Jungian dream analysis.

Through this process we can build an understanding collaboratively – these are back-and-forth conversations in which we are exploring and giving shape to your experiences in a way that renders them comprehensible. Furthermore, while my qualification reflects professional experience and knowledge, you know far more about yourself than I do. So I do not act as an expert who has solutions, but rather a guide in helping you understand yourself so you can live your life in a way that is more aligned with who you want to be. This also means though that I may at times challenge your perspective or conclusions. Honest reflections are the foundation of my work, enabling trust and awareness of things that you were not aware of before.

Challenges and areas I work with

  • Performing worse in competition than training
  • Performance plateaus
  • Maximising enjoyment and finding personal meaning
  • Perfectionism – making it work for you, not against you
  • Being held back by fear
  • Managing emotions around performance and adversities
  • Transitions: moving from amateur to professional, junior to senior, national to international, competitive to recreational, voluntary or involuntary retirement, deselection, changing clubs/coaches/organisations
  • Enhancing motivation
  • Navigating difficult competition/training environments
  • Self-inquiry – understanding yourself better
  • Mental health support
  • Navigating injuries
  • Creating long-lasting behaviour change

Costs & logistics

To begin with, I offer a free 20-minute introductory video call which provides an opportunity for me to understand the nature of your situation and goals to establish whether I can help, and for you to ask questions and get a sense of who I am before deciding if you would like to work with me. I will also discuss logistics with you and explain how I work.

To achieve momentum, some continuity is needed at the beginning of the professional relationship. This means it is best to book sessions either weekly or fortnightly initially, as this allows us to build on what we are doing and create a solid foundation for future change.

I am happy to work online or face-to-face. I am based near Milton Keynes and will happily meet you in a public place for more relaxed conversations, or alternatively in a private space in Buckingham if you prefer more privacy.

If you choose to work with me, subsequent sessions are priced at £80 each, lasting 60 minutes. The cost per session reflects not only the time spent with you, but time spent outside of sessions reflecting and preparing.

Workshops for teams & groups

I also offer talks and workshops for teams, groups and organisations, in addition to educational events. In order to organise the event, I will speak to you in advance in order to understand what you would like from the event, which I then tailor to your needs. Costs for workshops are negotiated depending on the nature of the work. Please contact me for further details.