Skin Picking self-help book on the way! I am currently writing a book outlining my approach to skin picking therapy. I hope that it will offer some recognition, compassion and practical guidance to those who struggle with their picking. If you’d like to receive updates on the book, and occasional snippets of insight from my practice, please leave your email address below.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

__________________________________________________

Hello and a warm welcome

meI am an HCPC registered Chartered Counselling Psychologist with over ten years of counselling, psychotherapy and psychology experience. I work from Bristol and South Gloucestershire, UK, and currently run an online private practice accepting clients from across the UK. My training allows me to use psychological theory and research to work with both surface and underlying issues, acknowledging the individual’s unique context, experience, systems and meanings. I have a background of counselling and psychotherapy in the NHS, within public and voluntary sector services, and within my own private practice.

I value, respect and celebrate individual differences, and I am careful to attune my practice to clients’ needs and priorities, working with both acceptance and pragmatism. I see my work as a collaborative, active partnership where we work hard to make sense of the problem, then consider appropriate strategies and interventions. I do not sit silently – I talk openly, sharing psychological theory, and helping clients to own their change. For more information about my training, experience and approach to therapy please see here.

I frequently support people who have concerns in areas such as:

  • low mood and/or anxiety
  • overwhelm, distress and/or panic
  • impulsive and/or compulsive behaviours
  • managing difficult life events and experiences
  • low self-esteem and harsh inner critics
  • Obsessive and/or intrusive thoughts
  • relationship issues or concerns
  • change, loss and grief
  • fertility, pregnancy and family related problems or distress
  • managing the impact of past distress, experiences and/or trauma
  • problematic patterns of behaviour or coping, including addiction and self-focussed behaviours

I have a specialist interest in problematic skin picking (also known as ‘Dermatillomania’ or ‘Excoriation Disorder’), and have previously published research and a thesis in this area. Usually around half of my clients are focussed on skin picking work and contextual issues. You can find more information about my skin picking research, including full open-access links to my publications, here.

I am experienced in working with neurodiversity, including autistic people and ADHD, with or without diagnosis. I consider myself LGBTQ+ allied.

How I can help

*Update November 2025: I am currently working at capacity and have a waiting list for new clients. Please contact me here if you are interested in working together.*

I currently offer a range of psychological therapy options for individuals, as well as offering training and supervision for professionals and parents looking to better support others.

Online therapy options:

Online individual psychology/therapy sessions for adults. Sessions draw on the full breadth of my doctoral training and may incorporate principles and interventions from relational psychotherapy, CBT, person-centred therapy, schema therapy and systemic approaches. Sessions are for 50 minutes, usually weekly, and take place over a secure Zoom call.

Online individual psychology/therapy sessions for problematic skin picking or related behaviours. Depending on your individual needs and sense-making, sessions and interventions may focus on managing skin picking behaviour, or may work ‘upstream’ on more contextual issues. Priorities for therapy are guided by you, but I will make sure that we have realistic, achievable and compassionate targets. For more information about skin picking therapy see here. Sessions are for 50 minutes, usually weekly, and take place over a secure Zoom call.

Other services:

90 minute educational sessions for parents/carers of children/young people who pick their skin. These sessions  offer a combination of training, support and action planning to equip concerned parents/carers to more confidently and sensitively navigate a child/young person’s picking. They are designed to foster compassion, patience and understanding, while also sharing more practical ideas that may support with communication and behavioural change. See here for more information. Sessions are usually run as a one-off with opportunities for follow-up.

Training, supervision and support for professionals. I am developing training for counsellors, psychotherapists and practitioner psychologists who are interested in my approach to skin picking. While more formal training is still a work in progress, I am currently able to offer one-off 90 minute supervision sessions to support with either individual cases or to give an overview of my approach and techniques. My approach is best suited to therapists able to work flexibly according to client needs, as I encourage a client-led combination of psychodynamic and behavioural interventions. If you would like to discuss how we could work together, please get in touch here.

Safe therapy

I am aware of recent media coverage of concerns over lack of regulation in counselling and psychotherapy. These concerns are understandable in light of recent cases of abuse and I support further regulation of psychological therapies. Please be assured that my own title – Counselling Psychologist – is a protected title, regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The title Counselling Psychologist requires doctoral level training and research, alongside practice hours and personal therapy. It is subject to firm regulations around ethics, CPD and supervision. Maintaining my registration with these organisations demands that I subscribe to their standards, am subject to checks and am accountable to them. It is a criminal offence to use the title ‘Counselling Psychologist‘ without being registered. You can find my registration details below.

Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC): PYL043589
Chartered Member (CPsychol) of the British Psychological Society (BPS): 329390