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.
I was 20 years old, the first time I found myself on a stage in front of 200 people or so, facilitating an audience-participation presentation on using theatre in youth work to improve wellbeing (although we didn’t phrase it like that back then).
That marked the beginning of a career, skill, and expertise which I’ve grown over time through dedicated effort, self-study, additional training, creativity, collaboration, and genuine excitement of being with people as they learn something new or reflect on a new perspective about something they already knew. Over the last 18 years and counting, I have created and delivered hundreds of lessons, public seminars, workshops, training sessions, and met thousands of people.
It continues to be one of my great joys.
“Trauma in a Person, decontextualised over time, can look like personality.
Trauma in a Family, decontextualised over time, can look like family traits.
Trauma in a People, decontextualised over time, can look like culture.”