A wealth of experience
Hello I’m Sarah, and I’ll be 60, all being well, in April ’26, In reflecting what to write here, I’m thinking many things. About the joys and the sadnesses, the difficulties and the learnings; the experiences that make me who I am.
So who am I?
I’m a psychotherapist, garden designer, friend, neighbour, fair weather, no-heavy-digging gardener, fledging singer and artist. Oh, and a wife, grandma, mum, mother-in-law, sister and daughter.
I live in Oxfordshire with my husband, Nigel and our two dachshunds, Milly and Lola. Having grown up with the message that I ‘should’ be nice, look a particular way (which I didn’t) and please other people, it took me time to realise that isn’t my job at all.
The real job in my view is to be real, authentic, to be the sometimes happy, sometimes sad, angry or afraid person that I really am, and to share that so others realise they can be themselves too - our job is to bring our gifts and challenges to the world in ways that feel real and creative. Not to pretend that things are fine when they’re not.
When life experience becomes passion…
The things that shaped me include the loss of our home to fire, an immune system overload and breakdown that lasted eighteen months, the loss of my mother prematurely to cancer, post natal depression and more.
They say that if they don’t break you the difficult things make you stronger and I notice that; these days I’m enjoying the wisdom and clarity I’ve gained and making time to do the things I love; working with women, spending time with my family, offering Womens’ Circles, developing my garden, singing, drawing and generally getting on with life.
I’m a highly sensitive person (HSP), and empathic listener, passionate about the importance of our right to live life our own way, whether or not we conform with society’s expectations.
Qualified and experienced…
Trained at Spectrum Therapy between 2005 and 2016 I’m a registered therapist with the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP). I comply with BACP ethics.
My training was humanistic, eclectic and experiential and required regular personal therapy throughout. I continue this and am also in Supervision.
I have a special interest in our relationship with our bodies and food having spent a lifetime recovering from eating disorder. I undertook a year long training with Beyond Chocolate in 2007.
I also took part in the Sister Stories Circle Facilitator training in 2023 learning to run Circles safely and well.
In 2024 I qualified as a Coach accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).
I am somatically trained and trauma informed.
Particular interests…
I often focus on how we experience ourselves physically. emotionally and in terms of our nervous systems, and I use this in my work, asking my clients how they feel in the moment and encouraging the development of a language of self-awareness and skills that support the nervous system.
As a fledging artist I am interested in creativity and how we sustain it.
I work in a delightful studio next to the stream at the bottom of our garden with ducks who love to be fed and the odd pheasant which knows to peck on my window with his beak when he’s hungry.
How can I help?
I offer space and a safe relationship to women of all ages, stages and cultures, so you can come to a greater understanding of who you are and what matters to you, and gain awareness and skills to enable you to support yourself in your life and growth.
“Sarah helped me think more deeply about what I want - we explored different areas of my life and she helped me make connections between how I approach those situations, where I was seeing them rather in isolation before.
The grounding work helped me focus on the feeling I want.”
