“I see therapy as about finding ways to make peace with our inner worlds so that we can live as wisely as possible in the face of whatever challenges life is presenting.”
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I think it’s often hard to see what is keeping us stuck with an emotional or behavioural problem because we are each too close to the rock-face of our own experience to be able to see the way ahead. Therapy provides an opportunity to get a broader perspective, gain a deeper understanding of the psychological processes involved, experiment with changes, and thus find a way forward. As a therapist, I see my role as supporting inner exploration and reflection in a way that leads to changes that make a difference. The first stage of therapy is usually to get a good understanding of the problem or problems, their impact, existing ways of coping and how well these are or aren’t working; and the current and historical contexts in which these problems and ways of coping have arisen. The therapy will then draw on range of ideas and exercises to un-stick what has become stuck. At this stage we might draw from one approach or from more than one, depending on a shared understanding of the problem and your preferred way of working.
Janet works with adults experiencing stress (including work-related stress), low mood, loss of confidence, depression and anxiety, and has a particular interest in problems of low motivation and procrastination whether these arise at work or in other areas of life.
After studying Experimental Psychology at Newnham College, Cambridge, Janet completed her clinical psychology training at King’s College London (KCL). She later returned to KCL, receiving a PhD in Psychology and postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). She is an accredited CBT practitioner with the British Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapy (BABCP). Janet also undertook postgraduate level training in mindfulness-based approaches at the University of Bangor Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, and, meeting the Good Practice Guidelines for mindfulness teachers, is a listed teacher with British Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches (BAMBA). She has been teaching mindfulness courses for the past 15 years and been involved in training and supervising other mindfulness teachers. Janet’s interest in emotional processing led her to seek training in Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) and subsequently to study Focusing Oriented Psychotherapy at the University of East Anglia and then at the London Focusing Institute. She has recently become a certified Focusing Oriented Psychotherapist with the International Focusing Institute based in New York. Janet has a longstanding interest in organisations and people’s lives at work as well as outside work. She completed a master’s degree at Birkbeck College in Occupational Psychology, and, more recently, a postgraduate award from the University of Warwick Business School in Service Operations Management.
Janet has many years of experience working as a therapist, teacher and trainer, supervisor and manager, mostly within the NHS, in the field of adult mental health She has worked in both primary and secondary mental health teams and taught in adult and higher education. She trained with the Parent Network (now part of Family Lives) as a parent trainer and has run a number of courses for parents, particularly those with young children. She has a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Supervision and is an experienced supervisor of both trainee and qualified clinical and counselling psychologists. She has also been involved in teaching CBT, ACT and Mindfulness-based therapy to trainee clinical psychologists.