About Me

Graduating in social sciences, I have worked locally and nationally, in local and national government, in health and social care research, in inspection, policy and service improvement over thirty years.  I have worked freelance for 19 years, with individuals, groups and organisations promoting collaborative inquiry, learning and change.  

I now enjoy working mainly with individuals to develop their greatest potential, creating the lives they want to live. As a counsellor, coach and certified Havening Practitioner (www.Havening.org), I encourage people to work in the ways that best suit them, creatively and confidentially, within a supportive and accepting environment.

As a Soul Midwife, I support people who are dying and their families as they prepare for the end of life.  And through poetry, song and other creative methods, help people explore their own relationship with death and dying. 

I have been a personal counsellor since training at Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute in the mid-1990s and a Supervisor since 2005.  I encourage people to work in the ways that best suit them, being creative and innovative, within a supportive and accepting environment.  I am a voluntary bereavement counsellor at the Nottinghamshire Hospice (www.nottshospice.org) and have my own counselling practice in Nottingham.

I am an associate of the Oasis School of Human Relations 

(www.oasishumanrelations.org.uk) in Yorkshire and a 1-1 developer for their organisational clients.  I currently convene the PPI (public participation) group for the PRESIDE research project at the University of  Nottingham (evaluating community singing for people with dementia). See www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/preside for more information.   

As a trained and experienced Appreciative Inquiry facilitator,(www.appreciativeinquiry.Champlain.edu), I have used this inspiring approach with individuals, teams and in whole system summits; writing about its application in supervision and in large scale strategic planning (dementia services); running the UK AI network for several years; and offering training in the UK and USA with the Lincoln Workshop Series; with David Shaked at Almond Insight (www.almond-insight.com); and with NTL. 

​

I trained at the Soul Midwife School (www.soulmidwives.co.uk) with Felicity Warner in 2018 and have recently joined the Companion Voices UK (www.companionvoices.org) for singing at the bedsides of people who are dying.

Originally from West Sussex, I now live in Nottingham with my husband, family and allotment.  We spend time walking, gardening and travelling. 

​