About Me
I’ve always been fascinated by the possibility that there might be another way of living.
As a child, learning French gave me my first glimpse of that possibility. I could imagine another culture, another landscape, another way of relating to people. That curiosity stayed with me. I studied French and Spanish at the University of Leeds, studying and working in Granada and Burgundy, later taught English in Dakar, Senegal, and travelled widely. Each place opened up another perspective on people, culture and life.
Music has always run alongside all of this. I became a songwriter and performer, played in bands, recorded in studios and spent years immersing myself in music from around the world. Creativity wasn’t something I decided to add to my life later; it was one of the ways I made sense of it.
My relationship with counselling began in the early 2000s, when I found myself struggling with anxiety and the pressures of university life. Sitting in that first counselling room and experiencing what it was like to be genuinely listened to changed my understanding of what was possible. It also planted a seed that eventually grew into my current work.
Over the past two decades I have been a student of my own inner life, experiencing many different forms of therapy and personal development — from counselling and Cognitive Analytic Therapy to EMDR, mindfulness, meditation, movement and bodywork, via hypnotherapy, Reiki, and a much deeper exploration of spirituality. I have learned a great deal from all the modalities I have explored.
Eventually, all these strands began to come together: the counsellor, the traveller, the musician, the songwriter, the spiritual seeker and the person who has spent years exploring what helps us feel more alive, connected and at home in ourselves.
That is the perspective I bring to my work today. I’m not there to hand you a formula for how you should live, but neither am I afraid to bring my own perspective into the conversation. Through my holistic approach to counselling and coaching, I can offer observations, ideas, questions and stories from my own experience when I feel they might help you see something differently.
Ultimately, though, the aim is to help you develop a clearer relationship with your own experience and discover what feels right for you. If you’re wondering whether there might be another way forward for you, perhaps we could explore that together.
I have a particular interest in supporting people experiencing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), fibromyalgia and other fatigue related conditions, as well as burnout and chronic stress. This is based on lived experience of CFS, and my own journey through the condition.
My hope isn’t to convince you that everything can be magically fixed. It’s to help you discover that even within the reality of this illness, life can become steadier, richer and more meaningful.
If this feels like the kind of support you’ve been looking for, I’d love to work with you.
“My sessions with Steve have been quietly powerful. His natural presence immediately puts me at ease, creating a calm and grounded space where I feel completely safe to open up. We’ve worked through my challenges in a gentle, steady way, and his intuitive guidance has brought real clarity to things I had been struggling with for a long time. I leave sessions feeling lighter, clearer, and genuinely confident about moving forward. Thank you, Steve!”
“Steve coaches with compassion and understanding. His openness and extent to which he listens provides such safety to explore all topics. He shares from a space of honesty paired with gentleness which has allowed me to consider things anew and observe the full scope of the matter. I appreciate Steve's insights which have been both reassuring and affirming.”
English