~ Amanda's Background and Training

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I was born in Manchester in 1972 and brought up in the Altrincham area of Cheshire. I lived in Henley-on-Thames for six years in my twenties and moved to Exeter in 2000. I have three adult children; 2 of whom are members of the LGBT+ community.

I originally worked in the financial industry, for a prominent company based in Henley-on-Thames. I enjoyed working with people from all walks of life and was known for having excellent rapport with all staff from members of the filing team right up to Director level.  I did not have a significant change of career until I ended up in Exeter, whilst training as a therapist, working with special needs children with varying emotional and behavioural challenges and diagnoses such as Autism, ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome. I particularly enjoyed the work as the development of a relationship built on trust and empathy was an important part of the role. Throughout my life I have found that I connect readily and easily with other people and this has consistently proved to be the case. I value authentic dialogue and people generally find me very easy to talk to. I also embrace humour and find it a useful tool in this work. I'm no comedian and you probably won't fall off your chair laughing, but raising a genuine smile is an important part of building rapport and lightens the burden of being human. 

Therapeutic background

I commenced therapy training on a BACP Accredited course in 2008 and started working professionally in private practice in 2011. Since then I have grown a busy and thriving private practice; latterly as an integrated therapeutic coach, with a sound reputation for working with individuals and couples. I've seen and heard a lot and I'm pretty unshockable. I have learned to appreciate the resilience that my life experiences have afforded me and am thankful that I am a functioning individual who enjoys meaningful relationships in my personal life and in work. I hugely value my work with people and have grown and learned so much through being alongside my clients on their journeys. 

Therapist or Coach?

There was a shift for me as a maturing person, towards being more focused on the present and future, rather than the past. This is reflected in the move in more recent years to working as an integrated therapeutic coaching practitioner; facilitating change for those who do not feel drawn to an old-fashioned therapeutic approach, but would nonetheless like to make improvements in different areas of their life at a profound level. I go into more detail on my development of this stance here.

Accreditation

  • Senior Accredited with the BACP (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy)
  • Senior Accredited Coaching Practitioner with EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) 

I enjoy my work immensely and enjoy my spare time with as much gusto. You can find me open water swimming all year round. I also regularly enjoy yoga, stomping, running, paddle-boarding, watching live performance and more recently, revisiting roller skating. 

Heros and influences

I am informed by the work of, amongst many others:

Alain de Botton (The School of Life), Candace Pert (Molecules of Emotion), Susan Blackmore (Consciousness), Joe Dispenza (Evolve your Brain) Antonio Damasio (The Feeling of what Happens), Paul Gilbert (The Compassionate Mind), Albert Ellis (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy), Marshall Rosenberg (Nonviolent Communication), Irvin Yalom (Existential Psychotherapy), John and Julie Gottman (The Gottman Method), Gabor Mate (Compassionate Enquiry).