about me

I'm Jo. I've been practising as an integrative therapist for seven years, working in person and online from a quiet corner of South Devon.

I trained rigorously and I've kept training since, because I don't think this work is ever finished. But training only tells you so much about someone. What I hope you'll take from these pages is not just a list of credentials, but a sense of how I actually work and why.

training and background

I hold a First Class BSc (Hons) in Integrative Therapy and an IFS foundation qualification. Since qualifying, I've continued to train and study Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Life Therapy, Process Work and Somatic Experiencing. I hold some formal RLT training and I'm currently seeking further training in both RLT and Somatic Experiencing, alongside the practice I already bring to session.

In the final part of my degree, I specialised in working with children and couples. I still see couples today and am equally equipped to work with children. We have all been children at some point and how we managed in that time and developed into adults matters enormously. Many of us go on to have relationships and it's often here, if we're not aware, that our earliest learnings resurface and cause issues in the now.

Over seven years in practice has given me the opportunity to work with a real range of people, presentations and depths of work. I'm a member of the BACP and take regular clinical supervision, which I consider non negotiable to do this work well and safely.

how i work

As an integrative therapist, I use a number of approaches. My work is grounded in origin story and while my qualifications and training underpin this, I also draw on my own experience and ongoing learning and unlearning. I have walked and continue to walk the talk. Importantly, I really love what I do and believe this is an essential part of being a helpful therapist.

The foundation of my work is understanding where the roots of our feelings and behaviour patterns originate and offering unconditional positive regard for you and your lived experience.

IFS parts work is integral to what I do. A lot of people find their way to me because they have a felt sense of disconnect to parts of themselves they can't access, trust or even locate. Somatic and Process Work sit alongside this, because a great deal of what gets overridden is self trust, instinct and a sense of inner calm and these live in the body as much as the mind, where words alone rarely reach them.

I don't arrive with answers. I arrive with a map, because I've walked this landscape myself and helped others navigate their way through similar places, staying close, steady, present, orienting where it's helpful and following your lead.

Usually, there's a story to be told, I let this unfold at its own pace without pushing to a resolution before it's been fully explored, heard and understood.

What I offer from our first session onwards is this: complete acceptance of you exactly as you are, without the need to hide, edit or shrink any parts of you. For many people, this will be the first time they experience this. Some clients tell me it's as if they borrow my nervous system, that being in a space with me, steady and unhurried lets something in them settle that hasn't settled for a long time.

There's no fixed timeframe. I see some clients for months, some for years. The work moves at the pace of the person doing the work, not at the pace of a programme.

why this work, specifically

I have a particular interest in how a person's sense of self is impacted after experiencing abuse, coercive control, or high control religion or groups. This could have shaped you from childhood by being in an environment already aligned to a rigid belief system, or found you as a young person or adult who thought they knew who they were.

getting in touch

If any of this feels like it might be for you, I'd be happy to hear from you. There's a form, not a phone call, because reaching out at all is enough of a first step.