I read Psychology and Physiology at The Queen's College, Oxford, and gained my doctorate at the University of Reading, before lecturing for some years at the "scientific" end of psychology. However, I gradually became more interested in the interpersonal aspects of life, and in the late 1970s began training in psychodynamic group and individual therapy at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton.
I have been in independent private practice as a psychotherapist and counsellor since 1984, and became a Chartered Psychologist when the title was launched by the British Psychological Society in 1988. I also supervise and train other counsellors to nationally-recognised standards.
In addition to my normal consulting-room practice I have received special training in working with people affected by traumatic events such as industrial and traffic accidents, criminal assaults, and emergency service call-outs. Some of this work involves visits to sites and clients' homes, if that is what the circumstances require.
Psychodynamic therapists have traditionally been "opaque" about their private lives and interests outside the consulting room. However, in keeping with more modern fashion, it's possible for me to say that away from work I'm passionate about music and dance, particularly Argentine Tango - and dogs.