My Story…

My early career was as an outdoor instructor, taking people into the hills, mountains and rivers, delivering climbing, kayaking and adventure activities, watching people discover what they are capable of when you put them in nature. I didn't know it then, but those years were shaping everything that came after.

From there, I trained as a social worker and moved into frontline NHS practice; first in Substance Misuse Services, then Community Mental Health Teams, and later in a specialist Eating Disorder service within CAMHS. It was hard, important work that taught me a lot about working with people who find themselves in difficult situations.

Eventually, I completed my Post Graduate Diploma and qualified as a Person Centred therapist and honestly, it's where everything clicked into place. These days, I split my time between private practice, supporting students as a counsellor at a university student wellbeing service and running ClimbWell Community Interest Company, a project close to my heart that uses climbing therapy to support the mental health of people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It's varied, it's meaningful, and it's work I genuinely love.

Nature, it's always been there

Nature has never just been a job to me. It's where I think straight, where I go when life gets noisy. The hills, trees, cold air and water help me find myself again. I still offer traditional therapy as Walk and Talks, and online too. But when I had the freedom to ask what kind of therapist I really wanted to be, the answer felt obvious: delivering ecotherapy and climbing therapy feels like I’m coming full circle.

The outdoor instructor and the therapist were never really two different people; I just hadn't figured out how to bring them together yet.