About David
I decided to become a psychotherapist after suffering from chronic daily headaches for almost 20 years. Despite all my best efforts and those of the numerous health professionals I consulted, who offered a variety of treatments and diagnoses (the most common of which was ‘stress’), I was not able to find a way to heal the deeply debilitating pain and the accompanying sense of vulnerability and disconnection I often felt and yet so easily ignored. Then, through the virtue of listening to sound counsel from good friends, I began to explore mindfulness and particularly, the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and a whole new way of understanding my own experience, not only of pain but also of the unmet feelings and emotions that had lain dormant beneath this pain began to emerge.
Mindfulness offered me a way of observing my relationship with myself which allowed me to realise that there was a reason for experiencing these headaches and that this reason lay inside me. As I turned my attention inwards, and learned how to listen to the wisdom of my own body as opposed to the familiar distractions and ruminations of my own mind, I began to discover the path to healing myself.
It is this journey which has inspired me to become a mindfulness based psychotherapist. I want to help and facilitate you as you set off on your own journey towards healing, well-being and understanding, and to show you, that unlike me, you do not necessarily have to take the
I initially trained as a counsellor, both in the person centred and psychodynamic traditions, which provided a great grounding for me and confirmed that this was the profession I wanted to work in; however, I felt I needed to deepen my understanding of how we create so much painful complexity in our minds and how this manifests as suffering in our bodies, so I trained for a further 4 years as a mindfulness based psychotherapist at the Karuna Institute in Devon, one of the leading training institutions in Europe (www.karuna-institute.co.uk) and from whom I received my Masters in Mindfulness Based Psychotherapeutic Practice. I am also an accredited member of the UK Council of Psychotherapists (UKCP) and a Mindfulness-based Supervisor.
My interests and studies continue to deepen and broaden in response to my clients’ needs and my own curiosity and over the last few years I have undertaken additional trainings in Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Compassionate Enquiry and Polyvagal theory.
I currently have a private practice in Hanover, Brighton. Before this I worked (and taught) at About Balance Brighton and the Centre for Better Health, a mental health / wellness clinic in Hackney. I have also studied with the Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn at Plum Village in Southern France (www.plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh), with whom I learned how to teach both mindfulness and meditation . Prior to this I worked in the arts running a variety of organisations across independent film, theatre, music and the visual arts.