About Me and Banah
Hello, my name is Jane. Having suffered from a couple of long-term health conditions myself for many years which have significantly impacted my life, I have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by sufferers. After many years of being unable to work, I was eventually well enough to train as a psychotherapist and now I am passionate about helping people with long-term health conditions achieve a greater sense of wellbeing and quality of life.
As well as my private practice, I also work with university students as a mental health mentor. Prior to this, I worked as a counsellor for Action for M.E for three years.
Please see my therapy page for information on how I can help you.
The name 'Banah' בנה is a Hebrew word which means 'To build'. I chose this word for my practice because I really like the concept of building people up. Often when we suffer from a long-term health condition or chronic illness, we can feel as if we are completely broken down, as if our lives are in ruins. It can feel impossible to build anything at all. Sometimes our health condition can feel like a game of snakes and ladders. We make progress and climb a few steps up the ladder, but then experience a relapse (sometimes out of the blue) which feels like sliding down the snake again. Life can feel pretty hopeless. But I have learnt that it is possible to build lots of things even in the midst of this; confidence, resilience, coping strategies, ability to manage difficult emotions and relationships, to name a few and to experience reduced stress, greater psychological wellbeing and an improved quality of life. Often this reduction in stress leads to less symptoms and better physical functioning too.
The chinese character in my logo is pronounced 'Jian' and it also means 'to build'. Interestingly, it contains the character for 'health' within it. My name in Mandarin Chinese is 'Jian' too!