About Nina

“The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality”

~ Andrew Solomon

About Nina:

I will never stop being curious about how we heal.

I have a couple of BIG special interests:

I LOVE exploring (and am fascinated by) neurodivergence and the ways in which our beautiful divergent brains thrive (or get burned out) in circumstances that weren’t designed to support us. I get such a buzz from working with women and AFAB folks exploring ADHD and Autism – whether just getting curious or figuring out “what happens next?” after a formal assessment. Learning and up-skilling to serve my own neurodivergent community better is something I’m dedicated to and excited by – especially in the recent explosion of peer-led and neuroaffirming research, advocacy and creative production. I’m also proud to be neurodivergent. I get it.

I’m fascinated by learning about how to heal from experiences that overwhelm us: This might be PTSD or CPTSD (Post Traumatic Stress ‘Disorder’, or Complex PTSD – often stemming from childhood), or perhaps the “attachment wounds” of having grown up in a home with unreliable, unpredictable, unwell, or addicted grown-ups. Sometimes our systems get dysregulated by bullying, being chronically perceived as different, by social factors like microaggressions, or by big historical experiences like lockdowns, poverty or natural disaster. Anything that’s ‘too big’ for our systems to understand and process can throw us off balance, and I’m perpetually interested in how to help our systems find regulation, flow and ease again.

I’ve done my own work on personal growth, and have first hand experience as a counselling client – which means I have a great deal of respect for the work my clients do, as well as for the energy they bring to the journey of positive change.

In everyday life I’m a reader of speculative and weird fiction, a rambler, a tea drinker, and I love long conversations, green places, scary movies, and being anywhere there’s a sea breeze.

I’m perennially in awe of the diversity of human experience, and our capacity for compassion and strength.

About my counselling approach:

I specialise in working with neurodivergent women, as this is where my life experience, training and personal values are best expressed. If you’re a man (or male identified) and in search of a counsellor I highly recommend having a browse of the either the ACA’s “find a counsellor” page or having a look on “Psychology Today”.

I have a ‘whole person’ approach to mental health, and believe that wellbeing and vitality are ‘bio-psycho-social’ – that is, our mental health and emotional wellbeing are influenced very strongly by:

• Our physical health, including whether we are experiencing chronic illness or injury,
• Our social and family connections and responsibilities,
• Our experience of where we fit in our culture, or cultures,
• And the inner strategies and tools we use to manage our inner lives, public life, and relationships.

Along with this ‘bio-psycho-social’ framework, I use what is known as a ‘common factors’ approach to counselling. The ‘common factors’ approach acknowledges that there are ‘common factors’ at work behind many different approaches to therapeutic change, and that by focusing on these factors to keep therapy organised, we can include strategies from many different therapeutic approaches (as long as we’re using them correctly and thoughtfully).

Research suggests that these ‘common factors’ include elements like:

• A good rapport or connection with your counsellor,
• An agreement between your counsellor and yourself on the goal being pursued in therapy,
• Whether you feel that you and your counsellor are working together toward your goal (collaboration).
• Whether your counsellor is skilled in the techniques and approach they are using.

The specific therapeutic approaches I draw from include various “third wave” modalities of Cognitive Behavioural Therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) I’m also trained in something called Motivational Interviewing (MI) which puts YOUR experience first. The Motivational Interviewing approach is to believe the client when they tell the Counsellor something – we never try to ague you out of your own experience.

My approach is “strength-based” and “client-centered”.

If that sounds like therapist jargon, you’re right. What it means is that I work with each client to uncover their own particular strengths, resources, preferences, values, and motivations. One size rarely fits all, and understanding what each client needs is a great way to make sure we’re working in a way that will suit you.

Finally, with a postgraduate qualification in teaching, I know how powerful having the right information at the right time can be. The right information can provide a real sense of personal agency, as well as helping us to understand our experience. Providing interested clients with “psychoeducation”, which “teaches problem-solving and communication skills and provides education and resources in an empathetic and supportive environment”* is an important aspect of my approach.

*quote from wikipedia