So, tell us what is handbag therapy?

It is a fun way of looking inside your handbag and what it tells you about yourself and your personality.  So if you want to make changes in your life then this is an opportunity to begin that discussion about what you can do about it.

Who should have handbag therapy?

I think anyone and everyone, any age, male or female.  I have worked with young girls with their first handbag through to women in their 60's.  I have done it at hen nights where you can make it fun and sexy! I was hired for a London based company in the summer where they invited their female clients to come in and I did readings for them.  It is great for women as we love to talk about your handbags.  Although it is very insightful for men as well!

What are people's reactions to their readings?

Most people are quite surprised, I think people come in thinking it's going to be fun (which I try to do) but I don't think they expect it to be quite so insightful.  I did some therapy for a woman in Italy recently and I had a sense about the lady, there was nothing special in her bag that gave me a clue, but I had a feeling that she should sing.  And if she wasn't then she should, I thought it was ridiculous but then I knew I had to say it as I would have kicked myself if I hadn't.  When I told her she was bowled away!  She said she is a trained opera singer and keeps it very private, no one knows, she practices 2-3 times a week and how on earth did I know!  The truth is I didn't know, I just had this sense.  So I think people are genuinly knocked out / bowled over by some of the things I pick up on

What is percentage that you get things right?

I don't think I really get things wrong! Nothing I can remember yet was wrong or really out.  It is usually about 80-90% accurate, I would say.

Are there many handbag therapists?

I haven't come across anyone else doing it.  I'm sure I can't be the only one doing it, but then again if there were lots of us then I would probably lose interest!

How did you start with the idea?

Pure accident!  I worked for 20 years doing cooperate work but one day I was sitting with my team and one of my colleagues came in with a Louis Vuitton.  Being handbag crazy I grabbed it and .  I couldn't help but notice that when I looked in the handbag it was so distraught.  It had children's crayons all over the interior of the handbag.  So I felt upset by this graffiti.  So I started to pull things out and as I did it I started to comment on what I was sensing and seeing.  But as I did it and turned around the lady who's bag it was was in floods of tears.  As I had just described her life from the contents of her bag!  She was going through that point with a young family where she had lost her identity, she lost her sense of being and I had commented on it.  I made light of it, put her things back and grabbed her a Kleenex and a cup of tea!  Then I didn't think about it again until I had left the company a year later and had lost touch with her.  Then suddenly she left me a voice mail, all it said was “I was thinking about that day where you went in my handbag.  I think you should do something about it”.  So it got me thinking, what have I got to lose.  So I sat down and created a process for myself that I could use and develop.  Then I took a vacation and sat in a beach café in North Carolina for a week and a half and every woman who came in I just asked if I could read their handbag.

What did people think?

The Americans love anything like that and I was a weird English girl with a strange accent and they loved it.  They thought I was awesome and came flooding in as they were intrigued by my accent and this crazy thing I was doing!  SO that was kind of my practive round.

Where do you would you like t to take handbag therapy?

I think it is fun to celebrate the handbag.  It isn't just a fashion accessory, it is a confidence booster, or a statement. Initially my thinking was it would be a good way to introduce people to life coaching as a lot of people don't understand what it is and it can get a bit of bad publicity.  Just a nice way to introduce conversation around love and life and things like that.  But now I want to take it one of two ways really.

Either making it a regular feature on a blog or on the internet or something.  Perhaps working with LK Bennett or another major handbag company, for when they launch a new season of handbags I could give each one a personality that would suit the lady that might buy it.

What is the strangest thing you have found in a handbag?

A half eaten chicken drumstick that was about 4 weeks old!  Narcotics!  Which was rather weird as the lady was 83 and he also had a flick knife!

A babies identity bracelet but the child was 4, the lady had moved it every time she changed handbag.  Then when I was in Dublin, one of the production team men there had a big town crier bell in his bag!  That was really bizarre!

Even things like this lovely white handbag in Ireland that this lady had a full (unopened) bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in her bag so she always had wine with her!

It just seems odd the things that people hold on to them and don't clear them out or sort them out regularly.

What about the funniest thing?

A beach towel!  This beautiful lady, in her 60's, looked like a ballerina with a lime green dress on and at the bottom of this very large bag was a lime green beach towel.  It just didn't go with the woman, it made me laugh as it looked so odd as we were in the middle of Dublin!  But she just carried it around with her.

Depending on where you come from is your handbag different?

Yeah definitely, I have seen some trends.  For example in Belgium I have read about 50 bags in one period and I saw a lot of structure and orientation around pouches and pockets in the lining, a lot more organised.

In Ireland they have a very different textures, very synthetic and plastic.  But lots of Guess and Gucci.

Then the UK a lot of them are discreet and not pretentious, but in London and there is a lot of Louis and Prada.  But out of London there is a lot of Next and River Island and people will tell you where and why they bought it.  There is more of a connection to their handbags and practical rather than showing off and being pretentious.  You can have a real conversation with people and get a real idea of their personality, which rarely happens in America.

Finally, who is your IDOL?

Oh my goodness! IDOLs blimey!  I don't want to say it but John Wayne! The other part of my life it horses.  I just love how he sits on a horse and looks so natural and comfortable. The common theme for me is that I idolise people that do what they do so well as it just comes naturally to them.

Interview by Bianca Spada

Illustrations by Gemma Luker, Gabriela Mot and Ben Jensen.