ABOUT MICHAELA
The BACKSTORY
Some of my earliest memories involve wanting to care for others.
At five years old, when my best friend fell in the playground and cut her lip, every fibre of my being wanted to go with her while she was patched up. The teacher said no. I was crestfallen. Even at that tender age it felt instinctive to want to sit alongside her.
I went on to spend almost twenty years in television and video production—and despite travelling the world, working with all kinds of interesting people, and even art directing a short film that won a BAFTA (!), TV production didn’t feel like my heart’s calling.
In 2009 a lightbulb moment came while watching a couple therapy scene in a TV show, I could instantly imagine sitting in the therapist’s chair. (I joke that I did my ‘10,000 hours’, travelling in the back of a crew van, ‘counselling’ colleagues about their unhappy relationships), but in that moment I knew I wanted a career doing what I’d always done informally…
Listening.
It’s been 17 years since I took my first steps into training to be a therapist. This work has an aliveness for me that no other work has quite had.
What I love most in my therapy work is to follow the threads. Spotting what’s just out of sight for a client. Tracing whatever is playing out now, all the way back to its origins—and watching the moment that insight clicks.
This work is important. It makes a difference. I feel it every session.
The Setting
Swapping lively London for a more rural way of life, I live with my husband and son in West Sussex. I love to paint and garden—quiet, creative endeavours that keep me grounded, which matters enormously in this work.
That same grounded quality is reflected in my garden cabin. Built from natural materials and decorated with botanical artwork, and small treasures from nature, it offers a peaceful, welcoming place that invites open, heart-led conversations.
In summer, clients can watch bees and butterflies move through the lavender outside the window. In the colder months a candle is lit to bring soft light to the change in season.
TRAINING
I undertook my Relationship Therapy training at the Relate Institute, earning a Postgraduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy. I worked for a number of very happy years at Relate Mid Thames & Bucks, becoming one of Relate’s ‘Experienced Relationship Counsellors’, before leaving to establish my private practice in 2013.
Before Relate, I trained and worked as a Bereavement Counsellor for the Camden, City, Islington & Westminster Bereavement Service in London—an experience that continues to inform the depth and care I bring to my work.
I’ve also created and delivered healthy relationship sessions in schools, and written about relationships for a number of publications and spoken on podcasts and radio.
Qualifications
Postgraduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy — The Relate Institute, University of Hull
Certificate in Psychodynamic Couple Counselling — The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, London
Certificate in Psychotherapy and Counselling — School of Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology, London
Transformational Coaching Certificate
Selected further training
My continuing professional development includes:
Relational Life Therapy — Terry Real
Somatic Experiencing
Introductory EMDR
Mental health and couple counselling
Working with affairs
Narrative Therapy with couples
LGBTQ+ inclusive practice
Domestic violence and abuse — awareness, assessment and intervention
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
I am an NCPS Accredited Therapist and practice in accordance with its ethical guidelines. I also undertake monthly clinical supervision.
If you’d like to explore working together…
