I have been working as a couple and individual psychotherapist for over 30 years. My early work was with Relate (Marriage Guidance) followed by a four year training at the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships where I qualified in 1991 with a diploma in Marital Psychotherapy.
Since qualifying I have worked hard to promote couple psychotherapy both in England and abroad. As Chair of the British Society of Couple Psychotherapy and Counselling I initiated our first International Conference at Keble College Oxford. With Professor Brett Kahr, I put on a Musico-Psychological evening,Couples in Counterpoint, at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House.
Telework: Since the movement started in 1988 I have been particularly interested in the emotional and psychological aspects of people working from home – Teleworking. In 1998 I presented a Paper “Bringing Home the Electronic Baby” at European Conferences in Stockholm and Vienna and have written articles for the Swedish magazine Distans and other publications on the emotional effects of Teleworking. Thirty two years on the Covid pandemic has made working from home a fact of life — Teleworking has come of age — and I am sure is here to stay. Technology has moved on a great deal since those early days of Teleworking , making it incredibly easy to work from anywhere, but it is important to acknowledge that there can still be difficulties in combining the institutions of work and home.
Articles I've written on this are:
- A Fax at Midnight
- Are Calling Cards Really Necessary
- Is There a Child in the House
- Sex and the Teleworker
- Aging Couples
In 2004, working with twelve professional colleagues, I proposed and co- authored and co- edited The Invisible Matrix, an exploration of professional relationships in the service of psychotherapy. ( Karnac, editors Sasha Brookes and Pauline Hodson.)
Currently I am particularly interested in working with older couples and have presented papers on this subject in America and Europe. Two papers have appeared in the BSCPC Journal, Couple and Family Psychoanalysis.