I was born in the Netherlands where I trained as a Clinical Psychologist and qualified with a Masters in Clinical Psychologist in Amsterdam, in March 1987. At the same university, I obtained my first degree as a Teacher/Trainer in Social Science in May 1987. I have always loved the rich English history and beautiful countryside and therefore happily accepted the chance to work as a Clinical Psychologist in an NHS Adult Mental Health team based in Colchester, for which reason I moved to the UK in August 1987.

I started working with children, their families and the networks supporting them, in 1989, and have continued doing ever since in the NHS, in the private sector, and in my private practice ‘Child Psychology Sussex’. I have also provided numerous training projects for a wide variety of professional groups, both in my work for the NHS as well as in my private practice. I am repeatedly employed as trainer to share my knowledge of human psychology and behaviour in the context of the work place and, for example, I have been commissioned as an accredited Training Provider for West Sussex County Council since May 2008.

I became increasingly interested in working with staff groups, offering them consultation and training. Building on my interest in consultation, I obtained a Clinical Ph.D. in Child and Family Psychology at the Tavistock Clinic and Birkbeck College University of London, in March 2002. My thesis explored and defined the role of the consultant during the various stages of consultation, based on interviews with 12 internationally known organisational consultants and observing a consultant Child Psychotherapist working with a staff group in private practice over a period of 9 months. I then sought to specialise further, and obtained the Tavistock certificate in Executive Coaching with the Tavistock Consultancy Service in 2006. This course helped me gain more in-depth knowledge and practical skills in working with organisations, teams, and executives as a coach. 

As a certified Executive Coach, I started my own company ‘Coaching 4 All’ where I coach and mentor executives, directors and staff in mainly local, small start-ups and companies in the private sector, and teams and individual professionals in the Local Authority, Education Authority, and in Voluntary agencies. For example, since early 2016, I am offering consultation and training to the staff team at ‘East Sussex Supported Living’, which provides supported living services to people with enduring mental and physical disabilities, and coaching to the directors and their executive team. As a consultant to the start up company C2C BeWell, I developed their clinical governance and supervision policies, referral and care pathways.

I have also applied my expertise in working as a consultant and coach in a variety of employments. In the NHS I have assumed the roles of Interim Integrated Team Manager and Project Lead, where I had operational and clinical responsibility for the development and management of the CAMHS – Looked After and Adopted Children team. As CAMHS Clinical Lead in residential care I worked closely with Local Authority service commissioners to ensure the provision of care packages appropriate to the needs of the young people; co-ordinated the work of other professionals involved; and initiated and implemented audits, small scale research, policy and service developments.

In the role of Regional Head of Children’s Clinical services (South of England) with Outcomes First Group (OFG), I worked with a number of SEMH schools, foster care agencies, and the residential care provision, to develop the clinical services. This included providing professional and managerial leadership in psychology and psychological therapies; planning the delivery of specialist clinical services; developing high quality training; and ensuring effective clinical governance in the region.

For 3 years, until recently, I have worked as a Clinical Lead for the National Fostering Group ‘Bridge to Foster project’. I lead the strategic and business development of this nation-wide service, working closely with key stakeholders in supporting Foster Carers and their Supervising Social Workers.

As a Clinical Psychologist I have trained to help people understand how their thoughts, feelings and behaviours have an effect on what they say and do, so I have a thorough understanding and ability to work with the hidden personal feelings and group dynamics that can create stumbling blocks for an individual and the organisation. I am experienced in working with complex and sensitive issues and committed to working in a thoughtful, respectful and collaborative manner with my clients. I am dedicated and empathic in my approach and have a strong analytical understanding and good communication skills. Searching for and assuring people’s personal engagement is to me a key condition for change and development.

The services I provide are evidence-based and of high quality, using sound and well-established psychological principles.

I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). This regulatory body was established to protect the public and is the statutory regulator for practitioner psychologists in the UK. You can check my Practitioner Psychologist registration here.

I am also an Associate Member of the International Association for Coaching Psychology.

Furthermore, I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which means I subscribe to certain measures to protect client confidentiality.

I hold a professional liability insurance and have an up to date Enhanced Certificate of the Disclosure & Barring Service (formerly CRB-check).