RETIRED:  Human Givens psychotherapist in private practice 2011 - 2018.  Please note that I have now retired from private practice offering therapy sessions.  I am happy to be contacted (preferably by email) for information.

2022   HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IMPORTANT NEW BOOK: 'Antidepressed' by Beverley Thomson (contains some of my work too) 

Antidepressed by Beverley Thomson: 9781578269235 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books  

I have a background in family business and small business management - and have a special interest in 'stress' and interpersonal conflict - and the distress that can arise from this.  I am also a (retired) qualified mediator. 

The Human Givens approach ( www.hgi.org.uk )  offers very effective and powerful alternatives to enable people to understand what is happening to them and to begin to take steps to do something about it - so that they can begin to feel better as quickly as possible and get on with living their lives (and without prescribed mood-altering medication).  I have run group workshops to introduce people to Human Givens concepts - and use of the in8 Cards - in a variety of contexts.  I recommend these cards as a hugely useful and versatile resource available from www.in8.uk.com (and based on Human Givens concepts).

Through my work I have become very concerned to learn (confidentially from clients, from further contacts and extensive research of my own) of the very difficult experiences people are having with antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications and sedatives taken 'as prescribed' - often difficulties with 'side effects' and 'withdrawal' problems - and/or developing problems over the longer term which are not currently recognised as such by the prescriber(s).

I also worked with a number of veterans for the Charity PTSD Resolution, and shared my learning at their conference on 18 May 2019.  This brief video summarises:    https://youtu.be/GT_XXuD4f7E   

My Welldoing articles (see 'Articles' tab on my profile page) summarise what my work and further research have found.   My twitter account @recover2renew is largely used to share resources and raise awareness around 'the issues with the meds', which so many people are finding themselves struggling around.

This podcast contains information and references: 

https://www.hgi.org.uk/resources/podcasts/why-antidepressants-need-be-understood   

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2020

If you are looking for support with antidepressant withdrawal ... the main thing of course is to ‘take care’ and ‘go as slowly as you can’, listening to your own body!

The difficulty that so many people are finding is getting support from their prescriber.

There are 2 new resources that may be useful (‘for patients’ – and therapists and prescribers!):

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/ mental-health/treatments-and- wellbeing/stopping- antidepressants

and (‘for therapists’ – and patients and prescribers!)    https://prescribeddrug.info/

In Feb 2021 I took part in the Human Givens Lifting Depression Summit, my talk entitled "Antidepressants: what people need to know"

With permission from Human Givens Institute, my Presentation slides and Video have been uploaded to the collection of videos on the Institute of Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal (IIPDW) website, and can be accessed freely here   https://iipdw.org/videos    : Videos - (iipdw.org)   

I have also had a new paper published by the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, which I have uploaded to Researchgate: (PDF) JCPCP v20 i04 Brown&Lewis (researchgate.net)  

Marion Brown (researchgate.net)   

https://researchgate.net/profile/Marion-Brown-7 

2022

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IMPORTANT NEW BOOK: 'Antidepressed' by Beverley Thomson: 

Antidepressed by Beverley Thomson: 9781578269235 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books