Art Therapy

Vanessa studied Fine Art in the 1980’s and worked as an artist in the UK and North America for over 10 years. She qualified as an Art Therapist in the 1990’s, completing an M.A. in 2019 researching the benefits of art and nature to work with loss. She is registered with Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a full member of The British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). She is a BAAT registered private practitioner and works as a fully accredited art therapy supervisor, qualifying in 2021.

Vanessa has worked as an art psychotherapist for over 20 years and currently works within adult mental health NHS services. She is a trained mindfulness teacher and environmental arts therapy practitioner. Her therapy training is grounded in psychodynamic theory and over the years has broadened to include trauma informed approaches, Compassion Based Therapy, Mindfulness, Mentalization Based Therapy and DBT.

Vanessa teaches on the Foundation Arts Therapy and Wellbeing Course and MA art therapy at the University of Hertfordshire. She regularly runs trainings for London Art Therapy Centre, and the British Association of Art Therapists. She was given the honour of presenting her work at the 10th Attachment and the Arts Conference, in London on November 14th 2020 .

 All her clinical work is professionally supervised.

Earth Based Therapy

Vanessa has had a longstanding love of nature, rewilding her garden and growing a sustainable connection with local woodland, seashore and landscapes to re-source, heal, and nourish. However, Vanessa kept her professional art therapy work very separate from this until 2010. 

Joining CAPO (counsellors and psychotherapists outdoors), Vanessa met Martin Jordan, Hayley Marshall and Deborah Kelly at Powdermill Woods. Discussing, sharing and developing ideas she contributed to ecotherapy trainings and co-founded the Wild Elders with Deborah Kelly in 2012 - this Elder Women’s group continues to run as a collective, to this day!

Vanessa is gently making her own contribution to the field of ecopsychotherapy and nature based practice, She has been published and presents at conferences, trainings and professional groups. Her work is strengthened by ongoing spiritual practice and regular connection and collaboration with the land. Nature is her guide. Her craft is honed in apprenticeship with others - sharing ceremony & ritual with established Elders in the field, working with her teachers, students, mentors and the more than human others

Mindfulness Based Therapy

Vanessa was trained as a mindfulness teacher within the NHS.

She runs regular mindfulness taster groups as well as the formal Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Group (MBCT) within mainstream NHS Services. She also offers Mindfulness Based Art Therapy retreat days in various locations and mindfulness staff groups.

Vanessa has led a weekly local mindfulness in nature group in Kent for many years.

Her mindfulness work is clinically supervised.