I have spent the last decade working in sexual health and clinical psychology, most of it within the NHS at 56 Dean Street, one of the busiest sexual health services in the country. I have led the sexual health psychology and psychosexual services there and have worked extensively with those experiencing challenges in their sexual lives, whether that is related to sexual function, behaviour or identity. It is where I built and now lead the first structured NHS group therapy programme for men whose relationship with sex has become a source of difficulty, shame, or conflict.
I trained as a clinical psychologist at University College London, completing my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) there. I hold a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology, am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and am a registered Sex and Relationship Therapist with the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT). In December 2025 I received the EFS-ESSM Certified Psychosexologist qualification, awarded jointly by the European Federation of Sexology and the European Society for Sexual Medicine. It is the highest European-level certification in psychosexology.
Since qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist, I have worked extensively with individuals and couples experiencing sexual function difficulties; including problems with desire, arousal, orgasm, pain, and performance as well as the relational and psychological dimensions of living with HIV and other sexual health conditions. I work with people navigating questions of sexuality and identity, including those processing coming out, shifts in sexual identity across the lifespan, or the intersection of identity with shame and internalised stigma. My work with couples addresses both the sexual and relational dimensions of difficulty, recognising that these rarely sit apart from one another.
I have particular specialist interests and experience in compulsive sexual behaviour and the broader territory around it: compulsive use of pornography, hook-up apps, escorts, saunas and sex venues, the use of drugs and sex including chemsex, sexual shame, identity-related distress, and patterns of compulsive sex outside someone’s stated values. I work with men whose sexuality has become a source of secrecy and self-criticism, often carried alone for years, and with the partners and clinicians who are trying to make sense of it.
I do not work from an addiction frame. The clinical evidence on compulsive sexual behaviour does not support it, and in practice it tends to deepen the shame that fuels the cycle in the first place. The approach I use is compassion-focused. It recognises that compulsive sexual behaviour develops as a coping pattern that made sense at the time and that change happens through understanding and altering the relationship with the behaviour rather than by labelling the person or requiring abstinence.
The structured group programme I designed and lead at 56 Dean Street was the first of its kind in a UK sexual health setting. Seven cohorts have now completed. Fifty-nine men have been through the programme. I have sat in the room with every one of them.
The published outcome data is strong. A large reduction in compulsive sexual behaviour. Significant reductions in sexual shame and self-criticism. Meaningful improvements in self-compassion. Equal outcomes for men whose primary issue was chemsex and men whose was not. Eighty-six per cent of completers showed reliable change on validated measures. The full results, and the qualitative accounts that sit alongside them, are published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy.
I sit on the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ National Expert Reference Group for Chemsex and Compulsive Sexual Behaviour, the national expert body convened to advise on this clinical area. I am a member of the Sexual Function and Wellbeing Special Interest Group at the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), and a member of the Standards and Advisory Board and Clinical Tutor at the Contemporary Institute of Clinical Sexology (CICS).
I have been a founding member of The Havelock Clinic since 2017, a specialist multidisciplinary psychosexual service in London. I teach and supervise across the UK, including workshops for the Compassionate Mind Foundation on the application of compassion-focused therapy to psychosexual difficulties, training contributions at BASHH, and supervision of trainee clinical psychologists and trainee psychosexual therapists within the NHS and in independent practice.
I have written for and contributed to UK media including the Huffington Post, Metro, and Sky News, and continue to speak nationally on sexual problems and clinical sexology.
My clinical approach is integrative and evidence-led, with compassion-focused therapy and systemic practice as its primary framework. I work with the assumption that no-one’s sexual life is best understood as a moral question, that secrecy and shame are the conditions in which difficulties grow rather than the causes of them, and that the work in the room is helping someone understand a pattern, change their relationship with it, and build a life that is consistent with who they actually want to be.
Confidentiality is central. Anyone who contacts me through this site, the NHS service, or any of the programmes I lead is treated within that frame.