About The Founder
Hi, welcome. I’m Dr Tamara Vaughan, a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and the founder of SanPsūkhé Psychology.
Growing up, I was your quintessential Afro-Caribbean (Bajan) girl: “hard-working, high achiever, mature, strong, responsible, dependable, there for everyone…” I was praised so often for always having it together. I was succeeding in all the ways I was expected to and for a long time, that was enough, until it wasn’t.
I often felt disconnected, unfulfilled and carried this constant underlying doubt that I couldn’t quite name. Then one day, I woke up and it felt like something had literally cracked.
I now know, I was experiencing burnout. Like a good girl, I picked myself up again, carried on, until the next crack and the next and the next. Eventually, I realised something had to give.
It took my years of work (work I still continue with) to unlearn the patterns that helped me achieve, but were also keeping me stuck; and to find a way towards ‘enoughness.’
After years of working in the NHS, private health sector, with charities and as a lecturer on various postgraduate courses; I decided to shift my focus towards developing an online private psychological therapy service. I wanted this service to be an offering that better reflected me and my values; and supported communities that I deeply care about.
I work predominantly with experiences of trauma, stress, anxiety and burnout. My passion area is supporting other “high achieving, holding the weight of it all” global majority women and femmes who want to rewrite the narratives that personal and intergenerational trauma have written for them; who no longer want to follow the blueprint of chronic stress and burnout; the ones who are wanting something different, something more… and are finally, giving themselves permission to begin to seek joy, rest and balance.
___
When I’m not working, I’m spending time with my 3 young daughters, my partner and friends; practicing body connection (yoga, movement, exercise), and watching reality tv (got to keep the balance!).
I’m delighted that you’ve found us and I hope that our service resonates with you. Use the button below to book an appointment, or to get in touch.
Wishing you well, always.
Tamara
My Values
The following values are intrinsic to the way that I approach my life and my work.
Do not use/delete this tab (hidden tab on the front end)
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Integrity
I take pride in honoring my word, and aligning my actions with my deeper principles. Integrity, in my opinion, is the foundation of trust and transformation.
Authenticity
I value genuine self-expression, encouraging each person to show up as they are, without masks or apology. Healing begins when we allow the fullness of who we are to be seen and embraced.
Time
When you’re stuck in a relentless cycle of doing, and everything feels urgent; it can seem like there’s never enough time. That sense of constant shortage isn’t just about your calendar. It’s about how time is experienced when we’re in survival mode, overfunctioning, or always prioritizing others.
Shifting away from that rhythm meant re-evaluating how I was spending my time. Not just what I was doing, but why. I had to notice when my time was being hijacked; by guilt, by obligation, by internalized expectations, and begin asking: What choices do I actually have? What do I want my time to reflect?
This value is rooted in that shift.
I believe that time is not just something to manage, it’s something to honour. A central part of our work will support you in reflecting on your own relationship to time and to how you can reclaim it.
Compassion
I hold space with empathy and care, recognising the humanity in every experience. Compassion is not just kindness, it is the act of witnessing pain without judgment and nurturing healing with tenderness.
Knowledge From Anywhere
I believe that knowledge and wisdom can be gained from any source – psychological material, spiritual and cultural practices, social media; and across generations – I learn from and value the wisdom of my children as much as I do that from my parents.
Intergenerational Healing
I love exploring and connecting with the experiences, pains, joys and wisdoms from the generations before me. At the heart of so much of what I do, is the aim to offer my daughters, their generation and the ones that follow, a better template than the ones I received.
You’ve mastered holding it all together, what if you didn’t have to anymore?