Hello and welcome to my website. I am a writer and mental health counsellor with a long-held interest in psychotherapy, Reiki and aromatherapy. For many years I worked in mental health services, mainly in GP practices and hospitals. I have facilitated writing workshops and courses in many healthcare settings, although my own writing journey has been varied.

 

Initially a non-fiction writer, I studied on the excellent MA Professional Writing at Falmouth University.  My intention was to hone my craft, return to life as a more competent jobbing wordsmith, and make a reasonable income. However, somewhere along the line, it all went wrong.

 

First, I began to develop an interest in creative writing.  Then, worse, I began writing poetry.  This, after deciding at the age of eleven that poets were a waste of space!

 

Next, I tried my hand at writing for radio, and from this came an unexpected success: a 3-minute monologue broadcast by the BBC, 'United'.  This led me to believe, mistakenly, that writing drama was easy, and I threw myself into creating a couple of experimental but questionable plays. It was at this point that my  immersion in writing and studying poetry stepped in and quite possibly saved me.

 

In 2008, English Touring Opera were commissioning a writer for an amazing community opera, and after responding to their brief and sending them examples of my poetry, I was commissioned as the writer for what went on to be a Royal Philharmonic Society Award winner, 'One Day, Two Dawns'.

 

This proved to be a turning point, with commissions including a new libretto for a swing version of Mozart's The Magic Flute, a stage adaptation of Around The World In 80 Days, with the production of some much improved, successful radio and stage plays. My words have been set to music by Cornish music group, Dalla, and songwriter Rick Williams.

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Most days see me working on one writing project or another - most recently a series of poems, including the prize-winning Street Anatomy and helping out on the amazing Greenham Women Everywhere project with Scary  Little Girls. Read more about this project at  http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/events/exhibiton-events/greenham-women-everywhere.

 

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