A little bit about me…
The Personal…
I grew up in Portugal, near Lisbon, and have lived in Washington DC, New York, Glasgow, and now in London for more than 15 years.
I was always interested in how people functioned: their thoughts, their feelings, their motivations, the why’s and the how’s of their actions and experiences. I was, and still am, deeply sensitive and intuitive about people around me, and people of all ages always came to me for advice, or always found themselves telling me their innermost thoughts and feelings without any prompts.
Growing up, I was curious, sensitive and intuitive. I lived through many highs and lows, and have survived many experiences. Whilst many factors have influenced my sense of self, none has been more significant than my queer identity.
Being gay and queer led me to experience early life with an acute sense of difference and not belonging. This allowed me to meet others who experienced life at the margins and made me aware of similar, but different, experiences of difference and marginalisation. My sense of difference and not belonging, is what still drives and motivates me to support others in their life paradoxes.
The Professional and Clinical…
I first trained and qualified in dramatherapy, which means that I learned psychotherapy through the prism of metaphor, active imagination, and creative expression. In this form of therapy, it is common to explore the unconscious and how it affects our present day; as well as exploring the relationship between body and mind.
For many years, I have worked in a systemic therapy model, which is about understanding individuals in relationship with others, rather than in isolation. It seeks to identify deeply entrenched patterns within an individual's relationships with other individuals, families, institutions, culture at larger, and within groups.
I have a clinical specialisation in psychosexual and relationships therapy, which takes a holistic approach to our personal relationship to sex and sexuality, as well as to our sexual, romantic, familial, and platonic relationships with others. It follows a pluralistic approach to the exploration of the biology, psychology, and sociology of sex through various therapeutic frameworks and techniques.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”