Working with Kirsty over the past two years has been incredible and life-changing and I cannot recommend her highly enough! Her warm, compassionate, almost sixth sense approach means I came out of every session changed for the better and able to face my challenging life with renewed strength and self-compassion.
I first came across Kirsty when we completed one of her hand in hand parenting courses, which was amazing and fundamentally and profoundly changed the way we parented our children for the better. Following completion of the course I started working with Kirsty one on one as I found her to be a wonderful therapist, listener and support.
Kirsty was my rock through many challenging life events over the past couple of years - managing two high needs children, buying and selling houses and moving house multiple times, unwell parents, landlord, relationship and work difficulties. I could not have got through it all without her and am incredibly grateful for all her help!
When I started therapy I wanted to make sure it was with a clinical psychologist as they are the most highly trained, and Kirsty’s offering as a multi-discipline skilled clinical psychologist is rare and unique. Her clinical psychology background, coupled with her in depth parenting expertise based on the world acclaimed hand in hand connected parenting approach, in addition to her focusing and mindfulness skills position her as one of a kind!
Although all of our sessions were online (me being in Australia and Kirsty in the UK) I could always feel Kirsty’s warmth and deep compassion pouring out through the screen! And I always took away so much more insight and golden nuggets of wisdom to go back and integrate into my life.
Working with Kirsty I have made tremendous improvements in all areas of my life, learned to give myself more compassion and grace and gained confidence that I have the strength to hold it all. I have learned to tune in to my body more, slow down, stop rushing and be more intentional and present in life. I cannot recommend working with Kirsty enough if you are facing any challenges or difficulties in life. She is a truly talented and wonderful psychologist! Thank you so much Kirsty for everything!
- Tammie, Therapy client 2024
You were so generous with your time, so warm and engaging throughout. You have a beautiful presence and a clear passion for it and I think that’s what made the course so successful. You made it such a safe and lovely environment. Thank you so much for all the energy and warmth you brought to it!
- Foundations Course Participant
You are a gifted, natural, supportive and gentle teacher. You help bring out our experience, offer examples, bring lightness, warmth and humor, and show us, step by step. I’ve really enjoyed the Focusing course, it’s been rich, full of compassion and just the help I was looking for.
Learning about Focusing, getting a chance to practice on the calls, the lovely people, and your gentle, warm, and encouraging facilitation and teaching. The class was everything I’d imagined it to be – a warm container of support, practical guidance and gentleness. I really loved the opening meditations you led us through – they were a lovely way to start our time together. I felt so held and could feel myself settle. I also appreciate how you responded to each person’s comments, questions, and experience. There was so much acceptance, levity and kindness in your presence. Thank you Kirsty!
Karly Randolph-Pitman (www.growinghumankindness.com)
- Focusing Course Participant (November 2023)
I really enjoyed the intro to Focusing course with Kirsty. She created such a warm and supportive environment for exploring Focusing and learning about the practice
- Focusing Course Participant (November 2023)
I know it’s not goodbye yet but just want to say how grateful I am to you for your caring and compassionate presence in all our sessions and in your emails. I’m in a much better place than when we started thanks to you.
- Focusing-Oriented Therapy Client - 2023
I have really appreciated the care she have taken with me – and her insightful ways. I have also appreciated the way she has introduced ideas to me, and worked in ways that are less familiar to me.
Her genuineness and complete trustworthiness have been just what I needed. I have felt very held by her.
Many, many thanks Kirsty!
- Focusing-Oriented Therapy client
The Hand in Hand class with Kirsty was really helpful for our family. It gave us concrete tools and a new way of approaching our children’s behavior. We have felt a real change in our family dynamics and our ability to connect with each other. Thank you Kirsty!
- Foundations Course participant - April 2023
I had no previous knowledge of the hand-in-hand approach before discovering Kirsty. I now feel utterly grateful to her for bringing my awareness to this parenting approach. It’s impact for my family has been obvious and immediate, and I felt so supported by Kirsty and the group as I began to notice myself more and the ways in which I was interacting and reacting to my children’s behaviour. This course is the start of on-going change, my task now is to keep practising all the tools! I hope with regular practice they will become a more natural way of parenting to me. I know I can always reach out to Kirsty (and my listening partnership!) when I’m in need of support.
- Starter Class Participant (June 2021)
My husband and I both participated in Kirsty’s recent Hand in Hand Starter course – it was a bit of a leap of faith spending the money for both of us to attend – but I am SO glad we did!! We both got SO much out of the course with Kirsty and could not recommend her more!! It has completely changed the way we parent (for the better!!) and I now feel that we can really be so much more of the type of parents we have always wanted to be – less yelling, more playful, more connected with the kids, which of course flows through to the great benefits of the kids being calmer and better behaved! Kirsty’s extensive experience in the hand in hand content, coupled with her clinical psychology background is just the right mix of magic to really bring the course content alive and deliver it in a way that is easy to digest, effective and evidence based (something my husband was very passionate about – everything has to be based in evidence and data to back it up!). Not to mention she always finds a way of having a laugh amongst it all!
There are a lot of Hand in Hand instructors, however we really HIGHLY recommending getting in early to secure your place with Kirsty as it is rare to find someone with her qualifications and expertise. Kirsty is an incredible listener and gently and empathetically helps you to address your parenting challenges, while also exploring how your own childhood and parental relationships are impacting the parent you want to be. Helping to shed light on and talk through some of these things was amazingly useful! Also too Kirsty helps to form and strengthen a wonderful supportive group with the other participants. You meet other likeminded parents from around the world and the ongoing connections and friendships you make from the group are fantastic! So in summary if you are sitting on the fence we would definitely say DO IT! Sign up with Kirsty and you will be so glad you did! Take the first step towards being the kind of parent you want to be!
- Starter Class Participant (June 2021)
I had heard about the Hand in Hand course from someone who had raved about it, which piqued my interest, but I wasn’t sure if I “needed” it. I’d read a lot of books about parenting and figured I was doing pretty well. But of course I had struggles, as everyone does, and thought it would be nice to be able to ask my specific questions (which you can’t do with a book). The course far exceeded all my expectations!
A lot of what we learned was completely new to me, despite all that I’d read, and was really helpful in dealing with the different situations I was struggling with. Even when I thought I knew about a tool, the detail and nuance covered meant I was applying it better and made a big difference to my success with it. It was so helpful to be able to discuss everything with the instructor and other parents in the course too.
The best part for me was feeling supported by a group of parents and my amazing instructor Kirsty. I’d never felt so supported as a parent until doing this course and it’s an experience that I hope all parents can have. It was a healing and growth experience for me as a person, not only a great parenting course. I feel more confident, happier and kinder to myself as a parent and as a person as a result of this course.
Kirsty was incredibly generous with her time, and warm and engaging throughout. Her supportive presence and passion made the course a great success. She made it a safe environment in which we could share honestly and vulnerably about the struggles of parenting.
Thank you so much Kirsty for all the energy and warmth you brought to this amazing course!
- Starter Class Participant June 2021
Thank you so much for the course it has been so wonderful and helpful, and all the effort and support you put in has been amazing. I really am so grateful that I joined your course.
- Starter Class Participant (June 2021)
Kirsty has changed my family’s life! Since learning about Hand in Hand parenting on Kirsty’s course, I’ve completely changed my view and attitude to parenting. It’s still early days, but I now better understand that by building connection with my children, every day struggles are beginning to diminish and there is growing harmony in our home. Kirsty is so calm, confident and warm, I feel like I could tell her anything without judgement. Kirsty shared her her own examples of parenting struggles which were really helpful. She’s been through it all and her genuine love and belief in the Hand in Hand approach really shone through in her teaching. I’m sad the course had to end.
- Parenting class participant
Kirsty has a calm and nurturing presence. Working with Kirsty, I have felt supported by her positivity and have found her to be very reliable and professional.
- Counselling supervisee
Kirsty is a warm, insightful and thoughtful facilitator and she created a very safe, non-judgemental “holding” space where I felt able to honestly share my parenting struggles, despite not knowing the other members of the group beforehand.
I was inspired by her genuine enthusiasm for the Hand in Hand approach, her deep knowledge of the thinking behind it, and the examples she cited of how it has transformed her own parenting.
I feel confident that with further work on my behalf the approach will help me build a deeper relationship with my children, which I hope will make them emotionally more healthy and resilient in the long term.
- Parenting Course Participant
Kirsty’s Hand in Hand came at the perfect time for me, I had recently returned from work after maternity leave and wanted to be able to connect on a better level with my son when I was tired and stressed from work. The course was amazing.
The sessions themselves were so helpful to sit and reflect on myself and me as a parent, and to share our experiences with a group of like minded parents. And the tools I took away from it were something else - even after the first week I felt a huge increase in my connection with my son, particular through special time. I’ve also made a listening partnership through the course, which I hope will be successful for both of us for a long time. And of course Kirsty herself, who has been a calming influence in my life and also a great demonstration of how hand in hand parenting can really work.
- Parenting class participant
I truly enjoyed how Kirsty delivered each session. Delivery of each tool was very effective. I feel that the emphasis was not only on introducing the tools, but also on understanding them. I liked that I was able to read about the tools prior to the session, and then really concentrate on how they are used in practice, supported by examples from Kirsty’s own family life. Some of them were so inspirational, that I repeated them at home when the opportunity arose, and this supported my parenting style.
It feels that the tools were given to me in the right time of Motherhood, and I am really greatful for Kirsty’s effort put into each session - preparing relaxed and safe place where I could open up as well as understand more about Parenting and understanding my children, as well as myself.
- Parenting class participant