I am a gay queer therapist. I am passionate about helping LGBTQIAA+ people experiencing some life difficulties and would like a better life. I offer a confidential, safe, high-quality, non-judgmental, supportive environment psychotherapy service in English and Portuguese.

I am a BACP Accredited, BPC registered, ACTO Level 2 counsellor and psychotherapist, CORST sexologist, and intimate partners relationship trainee therapist.

I work with include trauma, anxiety/depression, loneliness/isolation, sexuality, identity, internalised homophobia, gender dysphoria, BDSM, shame, sexual exploitation, childhood sexual abuse, HIV, neurodiverse people, relationships/and psychosexual issues across all age ranges from 17yrs to seniors.

About the Therapist

I am an experienced counsellor and psychotherapist with 10 years of experience working in different sectors such as the NHS, charitable sector and Private Practice in London.

I offer psychodynamic counselling, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and a Gender Sexuality and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) therapy or a combination of them tailored accordingly to the client’s needs.

I offer a confidential, safe, high-quality, non-judgmental and supportive environment, brief counselling and long-term psychotherapy service in English and Portuguese. I think that connecting with my clients therapeutically enables me to fully understand their perception of the key issues affecting their lives.

Perhaps it is the first time that you have ever spoken about your difficulties in life.

I have experience working with LGBTQIAA+ clients and can support you on your personal journey.  I understand the challenges of being LGBTQIAA+ or non-cis gendered. Therapy will help you to challenge the problems you may be facing and help you to live a more authentic life.

I work with individuals and couples who identify as gay, MSM, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, gender-questioning, genderfluid, asexual, Polyamorous, sex workers and Kinky/BDSM and other people that do not fit in these labels.

I work toward accruing hours for my accreditation with the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) as a sex therapist. I take with me my years of experience as a therapist and my psychosexual work is supervised by a supervisor accredited with the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT). I am a trainee member of the COSRT.

Experience and approach

I had previous experience volunteering as a Community Support Volunteer and Health Promoter for Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) where I provided weekly one-to-one emotional and social support to empower and encourage independence for a THT client. I have an excellent knowledge of HIV. I am aware of how HIV impacts people’s physical and mental health. I also know how the stigma around HIV affects people’s life.

I worked at the Cassel Centre as a CBT practitioner, a Southeast London charity with a partnership with the Borough of Lewisham. The Cassel Centre receives referrals from other organisations such as Mind, Goldsmiths University, IAPT, SLAM, The Maudsley Hospital and local doctors as well as self-referrals. Lewisham is a multicultural area and I have worked with clients from different cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations. I gained experience assessing clients by phone and in one-to-one sessions. I have experience working with different CBT protocols such as Depression, Anxiety, GAD, Social Anxiety, Health Anxiety and Self-esteem.

I worked in Portuguese and English at The Law Medical Group Practice (LMGP) which is part of the Central and Northwest London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust - Brent Talking Therapies from 2013-16. At the LMGP, I provided counselling interventions, face-to-face with patients experiencing moderate to severe mental illness using the NICE guidance.

I worked at the ELOP – East London Out Project which is a holistic LGBTQ+ centre that offers a range of social, emotional and support services to LGBTQ+ communities, and the Albany Trust which is one of the few specialists in counselling and psychotherapy services based within South London that provides high-quality professional support around gender, sexuality and relationship issues.

I volunteered as a counsellor for CliniQ which is an organisation that offers support to trans and non-binary clients. I worked there offering a safe space for clients to explore issues around gender identity and being sensitive to clients’ needs who may be searching for therapy for reasons unrelated to their gender but need to know that their therapist understands and accepts this aspect of their identity.

Some of the issues presented in therapy such as Trauma, Gender identity, Sexuality, Relationship issues, Sexual difficulties, Gender dysphoria, Safeguarding, Experiences of oppression and marginalisation, Family relationships, Life changes, Feeling stuck, Abuse, Sexual violence and sexual abuse, Anger, Low self-esteem, Loss and bereavement and Body image.

I have been working in Private Practice since 2015 with a variety of GSRD clients with different needs and presentations.

I am a psychodynamic therapist, CBT practitioner and Gender Sexuality and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) therapist who have relevant experience in working with people of different sexual orientation, race, economic, social and cultural backgrounds and of different ages. Psychodynamic counselling includes exploring how our early childhood experiences and early relationships can shape our present relationships and circumstances creating patterns of relating and our sense of self. These patterns are still present in our adult lives even though we are unaware of them and they may no longer reflect our adult experiences. Being more aware of these patterns and how they impact how you see the world and your position in it can help you to change your perception of the world in a way that assists you better. I work one-on-one to support clients to gain a better self-understanding so they can make more appropriate life choices and live more wholly. This may involve uncovering the deeper origins of difficulties by exploring experiences, feelings, dreams and desires and patterns of relating that are contributing to present difficulties.

I may integrate psychodynamic counselling and psychotherapy with CBT, Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) therapy and supportive counselling.

It offers a safe, non-judgmental and supportive environment in which you have an opportunity to explore things that are worrying you. It is a possibility to gain great insight and understanding of your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behaviours that have an impact on your life and relationship.

As individuals, we have to face various problems and aim to overcome many obstacles in our lives. Approximately 20% of the population of large urban centres will suffer from depression and anxiety at some point in their life. However, LGBTQIAA+ individuals suffer a great deal of mental distress which can affect all aspects of their life, including self-esteem, relationships and career choices, which can have a shattering effect on health and quality of life.

Even though there are lots of achievements for LGBTQIAA+ rights in some countries now, there is still prejudice and violence in our society against LGBTQIAA+ and it can have lasting effects. For many people, the experience of suffering discrimination, victimisation or homophobic attitudes can impact how they can come to terms with their sexuality.

On top of this, some people suffer rejection from their families or friends, or both and these experiences are likely to be a source of substantial emotional and psychological suffering.

Sometimes people do not realise they suffer microaggressions and how they can affect them. Microaggressions are termed everyday, elusive, deliberate — and frequently unintended — interactions or behaviours that convey some sort of discrimination against members of marginalized groups such as LGBTQIAA+, racial or ethnic minority prejudice toward historically marginalized groups. Some people who commit microaggressions might not even be aware of them.

Someone observing how well an Asian British speaks English, which assumes the Asian British was not born here, is one example of a microaggression. Presuming that a gay man has a wife or makes a joke about someone being camp. Sometimes people struggle with others calling them by the wrong pronoun or name.

I am also a Kink-aware therapist. I recognize BDSM play as a normal part of the sexual spectrum and I can distinguish healthy BDSM play from non-consensual abuse. I am aware of what constitutes safe and unsafe play (acknowledging of course those different folks have different standards for that); the types of roles and role expectations that are commonly encountered in the BDSM scene; I understand the stress that some clients may experience in keeping their BDSM lifestyle secret; and for many kinky clients, BDSM might not have anything to do with the reason that the client is coming in for therapy. Quite often, BDSM is just another facet of the client's life, like their vegetarianism or their hobby of knitting.

People come into therapy for different reasons such as:

·       Relationship issues.

·       Feeling stuck and wanting to grow.

·       Experiencing losses such as bereavement, divorce, redundancy or identity.

·       Feeling anxious and depressed.

·       Stress.

·       Self-confidence and self-esteem.

·       Shame and internalised homophobia.

·       Having health issues or chronic illnesses.

·       Coming Out.

·       Trapped in destructive patterns of behaviour.

·       Dealing with unresolved issues.

·       Recent or past trauma.

·       Parent and child issues.

·       Domestic and/or sexual abuse.

·       Seek therapeutic guidance to explore your feelings about your awakening interest in BDSM

·       Are you having a hard time reconciling your more exotic desires with the messages of disapproval that you may have heard from society? Such messages may come in many forms the mainstream may believe that BDSM equates to violence, the queer community might not acknowledge straight BDSM participants who self-identify as queer as such and the lesbian/feminist communities might perceive women who are into BDSM as identifying with the male oppressor or female as victim role. I can help you to address any internalized kink phobia that may arise.

·       You might also use therapy to help in your decision process when making choices about the people to whom you'd like to disclose your BDSM interests.

·       I can help you to make informed choices about whom to tell and how to bring the topic up and help you to process your feelings about that person’s response afterwards.