About ME

Years ago, whilst dealing with complex trauma, I sought out counsel for myself and became a first-hand witness to the cracks in the healthcare system. Being no stranger to suffering, I knew counselling needed a fresh perspective because we are triune with a body, soul and spirit. Now having counselled for over eight years and dedicating that time to my own studies, I gathered countless stories from desperate, hurting individuals who expressed their grievances with counselling. Often, I was sitting face-to-face with them while I listened and observed. Ultimately, I assessed their pain and evaluated causes as well as outcomes, which I’d label as a ‘tree-branch approach.’

Imagine you are a tree and your branches are your behaviours, thoughts and experiences; the leaves & fruit are outcomes. A dying tree does not bear good fruit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, forbearance and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The thing with trees is that one branch can be linked to many, many more (duh), while all of these factors are linked to a main root system. But the issue with roots is that they are underground and hidden, so I help you expose these and develop tools on how to tackle them. What we want is a healthy tree with established roots in good soil, flourishing leaves and bearing fruit. So, I’ll assess your branches (behaviours, thoughts and experiences) and I find out where and how they are connected, combined with the knowledge that you are a triune being split into a body, soul and spirit.

Does that all sound a bit complicated? Don’t worry, because that’s my job to deal with; I will walk you through this and trade the complexity in emotion for often simple solutions and tools. My naturally meticulous approach can help you when you feel all over the place, thinking there is no link to your pain or outbursts, but I can tell you now – there is. Even if you feel like you have ‘no reason’ to feel how you do. My strong attention to detail has been sharpened over the years to help pin-point visible (natural) and invisible (supernatural) factors linked to my client’s problems.

Over these years I have met people who felt rejected from the system – like they were numbers and not human – finding their counsellors had very little experience with suffering themselves and had no sense of authenticity. Because of this, I found people went to counselling sessions still acting, to some degree, as if they had things all together to receive help or even made-up different problems to get it over with quicker. I understand this. I understand our aversion to transparency since one factor is a counselling session’s formality. Of course – we all have the desire to present to one another that we are competent, but when did competence mean clinical and cold? Often (certainly not always) counsellors have taken on the profession for the title. I heard once from a young woman studying to become a psychiatrist, “It’s a good career choice for me because I don’t have strong empathy and their problems won’t affect me.”

This bothered me. Though she had a point about self-protection and boundaries, I knew what she said was the opposite of people’s needs. People need empathy when they feel so invisible and shown they’re not crazy for their experiences, both supernatural and natural. People needed authenticity; I know I did when I was suffering in silence. I didn’t need the fuss. I didn’t need the same recycled stuff I heard a million times that just wasn’t working.

I didn’t need the crap.

I needed a real person with their own findings, real experiences and a sincere care for people. Someone offering spiritual explanations for what I was encountering as well as practical tools. I needed someone who didn’t judge how I carried my pain or what I did to handle it, yet knew when to give me the hard truths I needed to hear. To put it all plainly – I needed something real. And honest to God, I needed someone with a sense of humour too. (Don’t even get me started on that.)

So, one day during a meeting with a clinical psychotherapist, and the head of Psychology at Keele University, he very openly said, “Sarah, use everything you already offer and go be a counsellor. Don’t do it here. You won’t enjoy it. You can use your creativity and counselling together.”

And so, I did.

Since I didn’t have any of what I was looking for when I needed someone, I made it my focus to become that for someone else. Leave the complicated stuff with me, all you need for us to work together is to give God a try with an open mind. I’m not asking for a certified Jesus freak – far from it actually – but since my practice is centred on biblical spiritually, I need your willingness since I communicate with God and pray to get the specific help you need. There is no ‘one size fits all’ since you’re created uniquely, so He and I are desperate to personalise a healing plan for you.

Hopefully, my story is enough and you’ll think, “Screw it – what have I got left to lose anyway?” and you’ll give us a try