With 9 years of counselling experience and a further 20 years of working as a Secondary school teacher, I am a skilled and active listener with an ability to build rapport effectively.  I hold a degree in Humanities, a Post Graduate Diploma in Education and a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling - majoring in Loss & Grief.  I am warm and friendly by nature and have a genuine desire to help people.  Drawing on evidence and research based techniques whilst counselling, my aim is always for the client to be empowered. Using a client- centred approach, I seek to explore ways in which the client can gain control and personal power within the circumstances of their lives.  When I am not counselling or teaching, I am a wife, mother and dog owner who likes walking, swimming and  cooking.  I am a Christian woman of faith who enjoys participating in church life.