Dramatist , Screenwriter and Poet 

He is also a Psychotherapist, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Clinical Supervisor who uses Rogerian Person-Centred          techniques,  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)  and Narrative Therapy.

A student of Buddhism and Mindfulness he is a believer in helping clients find a route towards their own self-healing.

A former international Athlete, Black Belt and teacher of the Japanese martial art of Aikido ,

Roger believes in integrating his life skills and experiences to help shape an individual pathway for clients.

Over many years Roger has worked with a wide range of conditions including :  Anxiety, Abuse, Depression, Addiction,     Phobias, Compulsive Disorders, OCD, Confidence issues and a range of Relationship matters.

He was one of only two therapists in the  counselling Hospital doctors for The South West Deanery.

                                       He often draws upon creative modalities and the healing power of arts to encourage clients                                                                                to find and express a distinctive ‘personal voice’ moving forwards.

A senior practitioner, Roger has focused his therapeutic time to one day a week and to a maximum of four clients

The first step : An initial hour-long phone or online evaluation to gauge mutual suitability. There is no fee for this.

                                        Roger and the potential client will agree a series of face-to -face sessions in a Bristol Consulting Room.                                                                                                    

       This involves the creation of a Treatment Programme that will be kept under review to ensure the optimum opportunity                                          for healing without spinning out the time scale, or creating ‘dependence’.

Rogerian Person Centred Therapy

A foundation of humanistic psychology it represents a radical departure from the dominant models of psychoanalysis.     Rogerian therapy operates on the belief human beings have an innate drive toward growth, healing, and self-actualization.

The therapist's role is not to diagnose, direct, or "fix" the client, but to create a supportive psychological climate where the client can safely explore their inner world and find solutions.

Rogers believed that psychological distress occurs when a person experiences incongruence—a mismatch between their "real self" (who they actually are) and their "ideal self" (who they think they should be). This mismatch is often created when children are given "conditions of worth," meaning they only receive love or approval if they behave in specific, acceptable ways.
To cope, people bury their true feelings and adopt the values of others, which stifles their natural growth.

The goal of Person-Centered Therapy is to remove these external conditions so the individual can reintegrate  true feelings, achieve congruence, and resume a natural trajectory toward self-actualization. It has three  Core Conditions

Unconditional Positive Regard:
The therapist accepts the client completely, without judgment, evaluation, or conditions. Even if the therapist does not agree with a client's specific action, they maintain a deep respect for the client's humanity. This safe environment allows the client to drop their defenses and explore shameful or frightening thoughts without fear of rejection.

Congruence (Genuineness):
The therapist is authentic and transparent. They do not hide behind a clinical facade, a professional mask, or an air of authority. If the therapist feels confused or deeply moved by what the client is saying, they may share that reaction (if it serves the client). This authenticity encourages the client to be genuine in return.

Empathic Understanding:
This goes beyond simple sympathy. The therapist actively strives to step into the client's shoes and understand their subjective experience exactly as they feel it, and then accurately communicates this understanding back to them.

Because the client is viewed as the absolute expert on their own life, the approach is strictly non-directive. They rely heavily on "reflection"—listening and mirroring the client's thoughts and emotions back to them. By hearing their own feelings reflected accurately and compassionately, the client gains clarity, untangles  emotional knots, and discovers the path forward.

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

is currently one of the most widely used  therapeutic approaches in the world.

 Unlike earlier psychoanalytic models that spent years excavating childhood trauma and the unconscious mind, CBT is a structured, goal-oriented, and focused on the present day.

The fundamental premise of CBT is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are deeply interconnected.
When a person is experiencing distress, they are often trapped in a negative feedback loop where distorted thinking causes painful emotions, which in turn drive unhelpful behaviours.

CBT operates on the principle that it is not the events themselves that upset us, but the meanings we attach to those events.

CBT is a collaborative, practical approach where the therapist and client work together like scientists—examining evidence, testing assumptions, and building a toolkit of coping skills.

 Identifying Cognitive Distortions:
The therapist helps the client recognize ingrained, unhelpful thinking patterns. Common distortions include "catastrophizing" (assuming the absolute worst will happen), "black-and-white thinking" (seeing things as all good or all bad), or "mind-reading" (assuming you know what others are thinking).

 Cognitive Restructuring
Once automatic negative thoughts are identified, the client learns to actively challenge them. The therapist will ask for evidence supporting and refuting the thought, eventually helping the client replace the distorted thought with a more balanced, realistic, and productive one.

 Behavioural Experiments:
To break the cycle of avoidance or anxiety, a therapist might assign real-world experiments. 

 Behavioural Activation:
Often used for depression, this involves scheduling specific, manageable activities that bring a sense of pleasure or mastery, helping to reverse the cycle of lethargy and isolation.

 Homework:
CBT requires active participation outside the therapy room. Clients are routinely assigned homework, such as keeping "thought records" (a journal tracking triggering events,) the resulting automatic thoughts, and the subsequent emotions) to practice their new skills in daily life.

By equipping individuals with the tools to identify and dismantle their own mental traps, CBT aims to make the client their own therapist, providing skills that last long after the formal therapy sessions have ended.

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Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy is a non-blaming approach to counselling that sees people as the experts in their own lives based on the premise we construct our identities and make sense of our experiences through the stories we tell about ourselves.

When people seek therapy, they are often in a "problem-saturated" narrative—a dominant story where they are the victim, or where a specific struggle defines their entire character.

The goal of Narrative Therapy is to help individuals deconstruct unhelpful scripts and re-author a more empowering narrative.

The foundational rule of this approach is: "The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem."

This shifts the perspective away from  character flaws or pathological diagnoses.

The therapist acts as an inquisitive co-author, helping the individual step outside their own story to examine it objectively, identify where the narrative came from, and decide if it is a story they want to keep telling.

Re-authoring: Once those unique outcomes are identified, they are used as the foundation for a new, preferred narrative.

The individual transitions from being a passive subject in a tragic story to the active protagonist rewriting their life script, emphasizing their own resilience, values, and agency.

 Therapists often use written letters,  or creative documents at the end of sessions to serve as tangible evidence of the new narrative, helping to anchor the client in their revised story.

By viewing life as an ongoing, editable text, Narrative Therapy allows people to reshape how they relate to their history and creatively direct their own future.

Narrative therapy is a counselling approach that sees problems as separate from people. Y

You work with your personal stories about your life and explore and “re-author” those stories to support change.

It focuses on meanings and identity rather than digging only into 'dis-ease' and pathology.