Vanessa is the daughter of a father who came to England from Jamaica during the Windrush era and a mother who was born in the Northwest of England. She is from a working class background, has an adult son and has lived in London since 1977.

Vanessa has been practising Systemic Psychotherapy for several years and for the past ten years has been employed by West London NHS Trust as a Highly Specialist Systemic Family Psychotherapist where she sits in an independent , systemic, multi-disciplinary Team. The role’s remit is predominantly working with parents/carers to prevent young people becoming looked after and the  reunification work if the young person has been in care. This involves working with both adults and young people who have experienced trauma/abuse.  Vanessa also offers consultations to social workers and has been part of a process with the various social work teams to adopt a more systemic approach within their individual work and team  functioning. Vanessa also teaches yoga and is committed to a holistic way of living life, taking care of both body and mind.

Previously, Vanessa  worked in fashion and then was a lecturer in Sociology and women’s Studies at Westminster University  which has influenced her thinking as a Systemic Psychotherapist. Vanessa has a passion for issues centred around power and control`; gender, race, privilege etc and working with  people who have experienced trauma.