About Me

I came to this work through injury as a stonemason and a period of deep personal change. What began as an attempt to understand and heal my own body gradually became a much wider exploration of what it means to heal, through massage, diet, counselling, psychotherapy and my own inner work.

Along the way, I have been drawn to many different approaches and ideas. Some have helped enormously. Others — particularly quick fixes, spiritual promises and prescribed ways of becoming “better” — have offered relief for a time, only for the novelty to wear off and leave me facing the same person underneath.

What has stayed with me has been something much simpler: having a place where I could bring my internal world and speak from it with very little interruption. To have another person stay with what I was saying, hold it when necessary, and sometimes reflect it back to me. Not rushing to fix, interpret or move me somewhere else, but allowing what was already there to be given the time and attention it needed.

This experience informs both my counselling and my bodywork.

A place to be as you are

I want to offer a place where the mundane, the eccentric and the difficult can be spoken without reservation. Where you don't have to make yourself interesting, coherent, spiritual, well-adjusted or even particularly likeable.

There is very little I haven't heard, and very little need to make yourself presentable here.

At the heart of the work is individuation: the gradual emergence of the person who is uniquely you, rather than the person you have learned, or been expected, to be.

For me, this isn't about becoming a perfected or more acceptable version of yourself. It is about allowing more of yourself to exist unashamed — including the contradictory, awkward, ordinary, sexual, angry, tender, frightened, funny and difficult parts of being human.

There can be something profoundly freeing in no longer having to continually edit ourselves in order to belong. And I believe that freedom extends beyond the individual. When we are less occupied with hiding or defending parts of ourselves, there can be more room for other people to be different too.

Acceptance and challenge

Acceptance does not mean that everything in the work will be comfortable, or that I will simply agree with everything you say.

We all have places where we lie to ourselves. We create stories, explanations and ways of seeing ourselves and other people that can protect us from truths we aren't yet ready to face. Often these aren't deliberate deceptions, but intelligent adaptations — ways we have learned to stay safe, maintain relationships, belong, or avoid something that once felt unbearable.

There may be times in our work when these stories begin to show themselves. When appropriate, I may carefully hold them up for us to look at together.

This is not about catching you out or claiming that I know your truth better than you do. It is an invitation to become curious about what might be underneath: what is being protected, what is being avoided, and what you already know but perhaps haven't yet been able to say.

I believe challenge can coexist with tenderness. Sometimes being genuinely accepted by another person gives us enough safety to look honestly at the places where we have been unable to be honest with ourselves.

Working with the body

The same principles run through my massage practice.

I place particular importance on safe touch and on creating the conditions in which the body can slow down and let go. Rather than imposing an experience upon the body, I pay careful attention to what is happening between us and allow each session to develop responsively.

Bodies have their own histories, boundaries and ways of communicating. Sometimes the work is quiet and deeply restful; sometimes something less expected emerges. There is no particular state you need to achieve and no correct way for your body to respond.

My intention is to offer touch that is grounded, attentive and respectful, allowing space for something more natural and honest to emerge.

Training and practice

I am trained in rhythmic and holistic massage, womb and fertility massage, and spiritual and integrative counselling. I work in a trauma-informed way, with each counselling or bodywork session approached as a unique encounter rather than something delivered according to a fixed formula.

My massage training was undertaken with Clare Spink at the Academy of Holistic Massage. Across my work, I draw on a grounded understanding of the body alongside counselling and psychotherapeutic perspectives, while remaining open to intuition and to those aspects of our experience that aren't always easily explained.

I don't promise transformation, enlightenment or a life without difficulty. What I hope to offer is something steadier: a place where you can slow down, speak honestly, be met without having to disguise yourself, and become curious about what your body and inner world are already trying to say. Hopefully with humour and joy along the way.

Ultimately, the work is not about becoming somebody else.

It is about making enough room for you to become more fully yourself.

I work with adults and offer counselling online. My bodywork is offered in person as I travel. If you're unsure whether the work I'm offering is appropriate for what you're looking for, you're welcome to get in touch for a conversation before booking.

Testimonials.

There are a few google reviews referring to my massage works and people are welcome to write these when they feel moved, but because of the nature of the work and the sensitivity of counselling work I won’t offer testimonials here.