Who I am
My work is shaped by personal and professional experience, held together by a lifelong interest in people, connection, community and spiritual life. Early on, I came to understand how important it is to belong — to ourselves, to one another and to the world we share. This understanding remains the foundation of my work. Nature, creativity, honest communication and compassionate self-discovery all help create the conditions in which purpose and potential can unfold. Through teaching, learning, cooking, therapy and play, I support people to reconnect with instinct, trust their intuition and allow self-expression to thrive in ways that benefit both the individual and their wider world.
As an accredited therapist, I work within professional and ethical frameworks, creating a secure and confidential space in which clients can explore what matters to them at their own pace.
Career path
My first degree was in Anthropology, followed by teacher training that fitted well with family life. I worked as a drama specialist in a boarding school for dyslexic and autistic spectrum pupils, where I also learned more about ADHD. I felt at home in this work. Drama offered a flexible, responsive way to meet people where they were, adapting to the needs of the moment. After a break from secondary education, I returned to teaching in a kitchen classroom, working with adults through domestic cookery. In the same year, I began training as a therapist. Although I enjoyed these roles as separate occupations, their compatibility quickly became apparent. Teaching, therapy, food and creativity began to feed into a recipe for Kitchen Therapy: an ongoing exploration of life, relationship and change, grounded in the simple pleasure of making good food.
Currently
I am passionate about bringing possibility, potential and pleasure centre stage — letting go of perfection and making space for the natural power of reality to help us heal. My book, Kitchen Therapy: How to Become a Conscious Cook, takes readers on a culinary adventure across time and space, into the inner workings of the human mind. I have also founded Kitchen Sessions CIC, a non-profit training organisation that promotes the therapeutic potential of food across many areas of life.
Writing remains a constant companion in my personal and professional development. I regularly share ideas through articles, events and my column for Thresholds, the quarterly journal of the BACP Spirituality Division, where I also enjoy serving as vice chair on the executive committee.
Beyond work, I value being active in my community — helping at my local lunch club, seeing live music whenever I can, and co-presenting Radio Reverb's Food and Drink show, where I reconnect with the part of me that loves reaching an audience.
Together, these experiences inform a therapeutic style that is relational, creative and grounded in the rich realities of everyday life.
Therapy Kitchen offers three connected ways to work with me: through talking therapy, therapeutic kitchen-based exploration, and creative cooking workshops for groups, teams and communities.
Qualifications
published 'Kitchen Therapy, how to become a conscious cook'
2024founded Kitchen Sessions CIC training organisation
2024BACP Spiritual Division executive committee member
2024Accredited Member British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
2016Foundation in Systemic Family Therapy, St Georges' University Hospital, Tooting
2014Psycho-dynamic Therapeutic Counselling PG Dip, Brighton University
2011Science Short Course – Understanding Human Nutrition, Open University
2008Certificate in Teaching Children with Specific Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia. Roehampton Institute
2000BA (Hons) Anthropology and Sociology
1991