About me

Are you trained and qualified to help me?

• I hold a Diploma in Therapeutic Integrative Counselling (Person Centred, Transactional Analysis and CBT) and undertake regular training and development (you can see a list of recent training at the bottom of this page).

• I am fully insured and undertake regular clinical supervision to support me in working with you.

• I am part of several consultation groups, including one for neurodivergent therapists. I am a member of TACCT (Therapists Against Conversion Therapy and Transphobia).

• I have substantial experience in working with complex, relational, childhood and identity related trauma. This includes supporting people to process the trauma of contacting with traumatic content as part of their job or volunteering.

• As part of your initial free consultation, we will explore what you are bringing to therapy and any approach you particularly want to look at. I can also explain how I work. Together we will make a decision about whether or not working together may be a fit.

• Where I feel your needs or preferences are better suited to another practitioner or service, I will be open and honest about this. Where you disclose living with a dissociative condition such as DID or having been diagnosed with conditions such as EUPD or BPD, we will use the first two to four sessions as a longer assessment period to establish if I may be the best fit to collaborate with you.

• I do not work with clients who are actively suicidal (that is have a plan to complete suicide in the near future) and recommend you contact crisis services in the first instance. Please see the NHS, download the App Stay Alive or contact 111 and ask for mental health support, to pin point local resources.

How will you work with me?

The practice values underpin how I will work with you. They are: Authenticity, Integrity, Fierce Compassion, Collaboration, Curiosity

Authenticity

I believe in showing up in an human way as a therapist. I also believe that the basis of change lies in a supportive and meaningful professional relationship with you, where you can feel heard, hear yourself, and be fully seen.

In practice this means that I listen carefully to what you may need, and may draw on appropriate lived experience/encourage experimenting with exercises into a session, where I feel this could be appropriate. This is informed and led by some of the models of therapy that I work with (especially ACT and DBT).

Integrity

The process of therapy involves being open and developing a trusting professional alliance, which can feel vulnerable. To help you feel as safe as possible, I believe in boundaries, ethical practice, and working from a basis of ongoing consent. If we collaborate, this looks like contracting carefully with you and using our initial sessions to agree how we work together and what we are focusing on. I access quality supervision, and work mindfully within the ethical framework of the BACP, the organisation that I belong to and am currently working towards accreditation with, This also means that I believe in regular reviews and being open to your experience of how we are working together.

Fierce Compassion

To me, fierce compassion means a focus on turning courageously towards what hurts in the world and doing what we can to relieve suffering. This underpins my Integrative approach to counselling, which draws from different modalities and invites trying new things to increase your range of experiences. It also underpins my stance on working collaboratively and sharing power and responsibility.

Collaboration

In practice this means that my focus is working to develop a trusting therapeutic relationship with you, that prioritises you as the expert in your own experience, and focuses on what is important to you. I undertake regular training and reflection around aspects of identity and lived experience, I also collaborate regularly with other professionals and organisations.

You may decide to collaborate with me on the basis of having some parallel or shared lived experiences, which may mean I feel like a more comfortable person to work with. I will always work from a place of understanding your experience rather than assumption based on my own.

Curiosity

This value could just as easily be called flexibility. I believe in maintaining a curious and open approach to what is causing suffering and how we may attend to that together. I hope to encourage an expansive space for curiosity and discovery. I am always curious about the best parts of evidence based approaches, and undertake regular training and development to further develop my theory of therapeutic change.

What is your Lived Experience?

I self define as white British, AFAB and (gender)queer, dynamically disabled and neurodivergent. I have lived experience of OCD. My pronouns are she/they.

• I regularly attend to deepening my awareness of how that shapes my experiences, privilege, view point and interactions. I see this as part of an intentional practice of learning and un-learning around identity and equity,

• I am part of peer supervision groups and undertake specialist consultation and training around navigating identity related trauma.

• My approach is sex positive, kink positive and sex-worker allied. This is important to me, so that you can bring all aspects of your life and work without fear of judgement. I work from a place of prioritising your comfort in sessions, agreeing clear boundaries and maintaining consent.

• I understand the experiences of navigating life in a larger and disabled body. I support a position of body diversity and health at every size (HAES) which focuses on your overall wellbeing.

• I have worked within arts and learning environments, local government, health and social care and charities. This included over ten years in the museum and gallery sector and in the hospice movement. I have a particular interest in supporting people navigating the pressures and nuances of these environments.

Why is the practice called Bread and Roses?

The name is taken from a speech attributed to a young Polish lesbian immigrant trade unionist called Rose Schneiderman who spoke in the aftermath of a catastrophic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York in 1911. 146 workers died, of them 123 were aged between 14 and 23. In the speech, she appealed for the need for everyone to have the right to both bread, the necessities of life, and roses, sunshine, art and comfort that richer women could take for granted:

"You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.

Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with."

Bread and Roses was born during my initial counsellor training when I noticed I had more questions than answers. My aim is to provide a flexible and responsive space where all aspects of your identity can be held mindfully and we can explore big questions honestly through a collaborative and anti-oppressive lens.

I’m not sure you feel like a fit - where else can I look for a therapist?

That’s absolutely ok and I know finding the right therapist is important. Here are some suggestions for networks and pages where you can find other colleagues.

The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network UK - Home of the largest community of Counsellors and Psychotherapists of Black, African, Asian and Caribbean Heritage in the UK

Pink Therapy | LGBTQ+, Gender, Sex & Relationship Therapists - Pink Therapy is the UK’s largest independent therapy organisation, specialising in working with clients across the full spectrum of gender, sex and relationship diversity (GSRD).

Therapists directory | Gendered Intelligence - a directory of colleagues who have attended training and work in an anti-oppressive way with trans, non binary and gender questioning people

Home | Autistic Therapist Directory - a not for profit organisation of therapists from a range of backgrounds who self define as autistic

the free psychotherapy network – free psychotherapy for people on low incomes and benefits - a directory of colleagues who are committed to providing free and low cost therapy

Soul Space Collective | Soul Space - a selection of colleagues who work face to face in Huddersfield

https://www.the-pca.org.uk - The Person Centred Association, listing therapists who adhere to a purely Person Centred Approach

How to find a therapist: BACP Therapist Directory- A directory of BACP therapists who have made a commitment to adhere to the BACP ethical framework (other ethical bodies exist).

In suggesting these links I am not endorsing the skills, experience or qualifications of anyone listed on them. I encourage you to explore this with any therapist as part of an initial consultation. Many will offer a short consultation for free or at a reduced cost.

Why did you become a counsellor?

I have always been interested in people’s stories and why we think and feel the way we do. I originally studied archaeology and English. I always wanted to know why evidence was interpreted in a particular way and how the reading lists were chosen. My personal tutor suggested I should be a counsellor, which I obviously dismissed! Looking back, it pains me but he could see something that I hadn’t realised myself yet.‍

Earlier in my career I worked as a teacher and then in arts sector in a number of different roles for around 15 years. What I loved most was helping people to explore and make sense of their experiences. I also had a deep drive to fill in the gaps and to tell the stories that mattered, even where these were uncomfortable or messy or felt unpalatable. Although it looked like I was holding things together on the outside, I began to experience significant anxiety and depression. Gradually I came to realise that the ways in which I navigated stress and which helped me appear successful on the outside - being perfect, unrelenting standards and maintaining routines - came with their own challenges which I would later label OCD. I would go onto receive really transformational support via therapy and to realise that Prof H. was correct, As a result I began my training in counselling in 2012 and have been fully qualified to practice since 2019. I’m still an archaeologist at heart and happiest when I am either exploring and making sense of experiences at work or digging in the mud outside at home.

Some of the training I have attended since qualifying:

T-CBT for PTSD

Working with Shame

Trauma Geek - An 8 week exploration of the nervous system & 52 Vagus Exercises in a Year

Kink 101 and Becoming a Kink Aware Practitioner

The Drama of Trauma Bonds

Evidence Based Approaches

Compassion Focused Therapy from the Inside Out (6 month programme)

Introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

DBT for Neuroqueer Systems (year long programme)

Working with addiction through the IFS Lens

Culturally Affirmative Development

Supporting Neurodivergent Wellbeing

Working alongside Trans, Non-Binary and Questioning People

Decolonizing the Classroom - University of Bradford Study Group

Islam - Therapy, Spirituality and Politics Conference

An exploration of whiteness - Research Project Participant, York St Johns University

Into the Wildwoods - Existential Responses for Turbulent Times - Conference

OCD

Psychoeducation for OCD

I-CBT for OCD in neurodivergent clients

OCD UK 2025 Conference

ERP for OCD Intensive

And what I am doing next!

Somatic Approaches for working with disorganised attachment