I'm Elizabeth Simpson, psychotherapist and writer. Welcome to my website. I was born in the North of England, but have lived in a good few places, and am currently based in the West Midlands. I began adult life in the education system – mostly in further and higher education. I worked for the Department of Education and Science for three years, and also for three years as an Inspector in county education.
I moved into psychotherapy because I began to feel that the underlying issues that made it hard for many people to fulfil their potential were rarely addressed within traditional schooling. I'm aware that schooling is important and necessary, but it suffers from the basic flaw that it addresses people as groups, not as individuals. What I liked about psychotherapy, and especially my chosen field of analytical psychotherapy, was that it understood how individual each of us is. I don't have to know everything about a given field – I have to know everything about a given individual. Everything, that is, that this particular individual is prepared to disclose. And that is a fascinating journey.
I also love all types of creative work. I have written stories and poetry since childhood. I am fascinated by the long journey of the human race itself, by so-called 'big history', by archaeology and anthropology, and by what modern neuroscience has contributed to our understanding of how humans function. I am in favour of the new as well as the old, of learning from experience and also of understanding how hard it is to learn from experience! I'm suspicious of accepted narratives: the stories we tell each other about the world, that help us to feel more secure in the midst of its chaos and uncertainty. Most such stories rightly belong with the bedtime stories we tell our children. Only one truth gets my attention consistently. And that is the one that says 'it's more complicated than that!'