The Personal Growth and Development Centre Avis 

Terribly rude and unprofessional. I was with her for the most part of a year and have genuinely never felt worse. She failed to spot my being in an abusive relationship. I would never recommend her and totally regret seeking her out specifically as a black female therapist.

I started therapy sessions with Kate with a lot of issues and no idea how to handle them all. Over the course of my sessions with her, she was amazing at helping me to see more clearly how things are connected and how to deal with them. Her approach encouraged me to do the work so that once our sessions ended I’d be capable of continuing to put into practice what we’d spoken about. I feel so much better than when I started, and I’m so grateful that I found Kate, whose expertise and care helped me during a difficult time. I’d highly recommend her.

Working with Kate was a great experience for me, she really took the time to listen to everything I had to say, while also focusing on feelings and experiences in great detail whilst also giving me the space to express myself. Compared to other councilling/therapy organisations that limit you to a certain amount of sessions, I had the freedom to have as many as I wanted, giving us a decent amount of time to go over everything that was needed to get through. She is kind and empathetic and I found was able to give me the tools and advice I really needed to help myself in the long run.

Kate’s couples therapy sessions were professional and clearly structured.
She tailored 8 weeks’ worth the sessions to us as a couple.

Kate held us accountable and created a safe space for the both of us to share and be heard. This meant that between sessions we had tangible topics to delve into and reflect on.
Kate was extremely knowledgable and clearly well-read as a therapist.
She provided us with ample resources. Books, exercises, tasks etc
We have been well informed, have come to understand ourselves and each other so well.
We feel well equipped for marriage after our sessions with Kate.
Highly recommend her to couples looking to prepare for a life together.

Kate was amazing!! Having done therapy previously and unsuccessfully, I was not expecting much. However Kate exceeded my expectations, she dove deeper into establishing root cause to address issues to help with creating more emotionally stability and fulfilment. I will definitely recommend Kate and will be reaching out again in the future

Had a 15 minute intro call with Kate for couples therapy. I spent the first 4 minutes describing the problem only for Kate to interrupt and mention she was available only 1 specific hour during work hours every week anyway, which she should have led with.

Honestly gave me mad anxiety afterwards and was very unprofessional. It felt like she heard the problem and just wanted to bow out as easy as possible by suggesting an unworkable and very specific time slot without any real acknowledgement that I had opened up first. Made me feel really awful like I had opened up and been raw only to be swiftly shut down and ignored.

Kate helped us turn friction into understanding.

We joined couples therapy because our communication had started to get stuck in unhelpful patterns. From the first sessions, Kate created a calm, safe space where we could speak honestly and actually hear each other.

She helped us unpick the real issues underneath the surface. She gave us practical tools we could use immediately, and she challenged us in a respectful way when we needed it. The biggest difference for me was the insight she helped me gain into how the misses experiences our conversations, and how my approach can land. That changed everything.

After 37 years together, it would be easy to assume you already know each other completely. Kate helped us see each other with fresh clarity, and rebuild better habits rather than repeating old cycles.

Kate was excellent. I am genuinely grateful for her support and I would recommend her to any couple who want to strengthen their relationship and communicate with more care and understanding.

Kate was a huge help in allowing myself and my partner to see, listen and understand each other so much better. Bringing about a much heathier and happy relationship

Kate has been great to work with over the past couple of months. She supported me through a difficult family situation and helped me build my self-esteem and confidence to become a better man. While you do have to put in the work yourself, Kate provides excellent guidance throughout the process. She is kind, insightful, and intelligent—and she will no doubt be a valuable part of your journey.

I have had an incredibly positive experience with Kate as my therapist. When I first started, I was worried that I might struggle to open up. However, through her thoughtful and insightful questions, Kate was able to gain a deeper understanding of me and my life.

I really valued how our sessions felt like a mutual learning process—while I gained valuable insights from her, she was also open to learning from my perspectives, which is something quite rare and unique in a therapy-client dynamic. In past experiences, I have worked with therapists who implicitly created a hierarchy between us, which did not foster an environment that champions personal growth. With Kate, it was entirely different.

Given my academic background, I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions on how the theories I studied intersect with psychoanalytic concepts. I appreciated the opportunity to deepen my understanding of Freudian beliefs while also introducing Kate to other popular theories within the social sciences.

Finally, I truly appreciated how she supported my commitment to personal growth by offering book recommendations and homework to reinforce what we discussed in our sessions.

If personal growth is something that is important to you, I highly recommend working with Kate and the PGDC. Over the years I have worked with her, I have evolved so much that I am almost unrecognisable compared to where I was before.

Kate went above and beyond to support and address any challenged in our sessions. She is extremely easy to talk to and is someone who is very talented and qualified in what she does. I always looked forward to our sessions and cannot recommend her highly enough. Her intellect, respectfulness and humour shone through and left me feeling empowered and positive.

They were incredibly professional! Also, I finished my sessions with lifelong lessons on how to prioritise my mental health.

Kate has been fabulous right from the start, I would highly recommend her couples counselling sessions. Kate's sessions provided us with great information and guidance to assist resolution to our satisfaction, giving comprehensive feedback and documentation. Thank You Kate.

Kate was great support for us. She was very professional and easy to talk to.
We are very grateful for her help and support.

Would definitely recommend

I had the pleasure of having 10 weeks with Kate at the Personal Growth and Development Centre through Black Minds Matter. I had had therapy in the past, a lot of which wasn't quite right for me, spoke to trainees or did it online with people who lived oversees. Working with Personal Growth and having the opportunity to talk to someone who had more of a closer background as me - Black British - made a world of difference. Alongside finding a therapist I felt the most comfortable with, the sessions in itself were honestly life-changing, from session 5 (keeping in mind the first one is really looking at what we will be talking about in future sessions), I had come to some seriously life-altering realisations. It's not to say that I couldn't do with more therapy, I really do hope to return for further therapy, but for now I appreciate monumentally, the work we did and the progress I have made and currently working on to have a healthier and happier mindset. Thank you!

Great service, wish it lasted longer.
Kate was professional and helpful, supportive and insightful

Although I had achieved great things in my work and recognition for them, it felt like there was something missing that was not allowing me to fully express my true self.

I initially thought I only needed a couple of sessions with Kate, but I went on to have six and I am so glad that I did. The sessions were enlightening and insightful as Kate skilfully brought to the surface early life experiences that were continuing to shape my behaviour in the form of imposter syndrome, and that I was not as good as others who were more privileged than me in certain situations.

Working with Kate has given me the missing ingredient that was needed to not dim my light, but to let it shine in ALL situations. Particularly in those situations where previously I would feel like I was not as good as others.

Kate was wonderful to speak to and gave us significant insight into how self-esteem impacts relationships. We invited Kate onto our podcast and our pupils enjoyed her warmth and friendly, down-to-earth approach.

Kate is a great therapist. Very happy with the service that was provided to us. She was able to relate to us and vise versa. We appreciate all the tools we were supplied with throughout our time with Kate. Thank you very much. The session never felt rushed even on the days we were running slightly over. We used this service for 8 months

My therapist was easy to talk to and made me feel comfortable to open up. My therapist helped me to identify things about myself and my close relationships that I could work on to improve my relationship with myself and others.