PARTNER, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & TRAINING, LEAD LEVEL 4 DIPLOMA & CPD TUTOR - PNCPS

I am a counsellor, ecotherapist, supervisor and tutor in Devon, and a co-founder of Step by Step Counselling Training.

I have been a counselling tutor for over ten years and am passionate about creative, experiential learning that moves beyond theory into embodied understanding.

I work integratively, with a strong person centred and gestalt therapy emphasis, and have a particular interest in neurodiversity and anxiety. I am committed to creating training spaces where difference is welcomed and students feel both supported and appropriately challenged.

As an ecotherapist I work outdoors, offering walk and talk sessions, as well as online and from our Step by Step base.

As Director of Operations and Training, I bring structure and clarity to the organisation and a commitment to rigorous, ethical practitioner training, with the aim of helping students develop a confident and grounded professional identity.

Outside of my counselling work, I enjoy good vegetarian food, films, creating art, walking, bird watching and supporting the local environmental group; Green Futures.

PARTNER, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS & CPD TUTOR - MNCPS (Accred.)

I joined Step by Step as a partner, because of its training ethos and student success. I oversee marketing, communications and brand direction and work closely with Simon and our tutors to ensure students get the best out of their training.

I believe good communication should feel clear, honest and human, and I work to ensure that everything we share, reflects who we really are and what students actually experience and need.

Alongside my role here, I run my own private practice as an integrative counsellor, psychotherapist and coach and work online and outdoors with clients as an ecotherapist.

I have a deep interest in relationships with the self and others, often using Internal Family Systems theory and other relational models, along with my self-developed Biodynamic model, which works to observe people as an integrated system, much like nature. This enables clients to understand themselves and their needs more fully.

I am also an associate counsellor with the suicide prevention charity Hector’s House.

Outside of work, I spend as much time as I can walking outside, enjoy a good old pub and making things from wood. One may even hear me play the ukulele from time to time.

ADVANCED CERTIFICATE & CPD TUTOR - MBACP

I am an Integrative therapist in private practice. I focus on empowerment by means of exploring oneself and an emphasis on self care.

I moved to Devon in 2021 after living in Birmingham for over ten years as a teacher. Being closer to nature to raise my family became really important along with a slower pace in life. I retrained as a therapist and completed my qualification in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy.

My background has been primarily working in education, but I also have experience of supporting families in a safeguarding capacity.

For me, self care is essential for a balanced approach to life that feeds my physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. One of the ways I fulfil these needs is through being part of an all-female shanty crew. This allows me to connect with my friends and the sea, and sing about the friendships, hardships and the storms at sea, which I’m sure we can relate to.

Singing, friendship and nature are all things close to my heart. Fortunately, living in Devon also means I get to fulfil these needs through wild swimming, walks on the coast and trips to the beautiful Dartmoor.

LEVEL 4 DIPLOMA & CPD TUTOR - MNCPS (Accred.)

I am a tutor and counsellor in private practice in Torbay.  I enjoy a mixture of private practice and working with various Torbay charities. In recent years, I’ve become particularly interested in trauma informed approaches and the interplay between Trauma and Loss. I also have experience working as a mindfulness teacher in education settings and the gentle awareness and compassion that mindfulness practice has given my life, helps inform my therapy.

My journey to becoming a counsellor starts with me as a client, and I continue to cherish and nurture that experiential understanding in the work I do, whether that be in counselling or in tutoring. As well as having an experiential background, working from the glorious place of ‘unknowing’, I also have a background in ‘knowing,’ as before becoming a counsellor I worked in education in some role or another since 2006, mostly in tutoring, teaching, safeguarding and working with older teens and young adults with neurodivergence. I also bring a passion for playing and moving with music, considering it another language we can communicate in, as well as other forms of creativity such as poetry and the visual arts.

When I’m not with my counselling, I can be found banging a drum somewhere or frolicking with my family on a nearby beach.

TRAINING CO-ORDINATOR and CPD TUTOR - MBACP

I was honoured to be part of the very first cohort of the inaugural Level 4 Diploma with Step by Step. To now return as a member of the team feels incredibly special. I’m truly looking forward to helping create the same supportive and enriching experience that meant so much to me, within this wonderful environment.

I came to this work because my own first experience of therapy was transformative. The counsellor I met during that time left a lasting impression on me, and that experience continues to inspire the way I practise today. I feel deeply passionate about Person-Centred Therapy and the lasting sense of autonomy and self-belief it nurtures in people. For me, it’s a beautiful and fundamentally human way of working - one that has grown beyond the therapy room and become a way of life.

I previously worked with the Palace Gate Counselling Service in Exeter before establishing my own private practice. Alongside this, I have supported clients from around the world through the BetterHelp online platform; broadening my experience of working across diverse backgrounds and experiences.

As an adoptee, I hold a particular interest in Adoption Support Counselling. In my private practice, I work with clients exploring themes around adoption and the adoption process. My own healing journey led me into profound questions about identity, meaning, mortality, and isolation. Through that exploration, I developed a deep appreciation for existential thought and have since gained a diploma in existential counselling skills.

I really look forward to meeting and working with you. 

THE BOARD

Perched on the Victorian picture rail above the main training room sit two miniature figures. Our board members.

They oversee the space when it is empty and remain present when it is full. A small, slightly eccentric reminder that this room matters. That what happens here is considered, thoughtful and held with care.

They represent something important to us. Accountability without rigidity. Oversight without control. Structure alongside warmth. They remind us that training is not simply about delivering content, is about holding a professional container, where growth, challenge and development can take place safely.

Part charm, part guardian and entirely intentional, they quietly watch over every cohort, every discussion and every moment of insight.

They may be small, but their presence reflects something central to who we are. We take what happens in this room seriously, even when we allow room for humour and humanity.