When did you become interested in counselling/psychotherapy?
With hindsight it was when I assumed my first professional role as a mine geologist. I had to deal with people who were difficult and challenging. They all came with unique mental states and psychology.

What gives your life purpose?
Professionally: to make people aware of the benefits of therapy and to achieve the changes I feel that are necessary and needed. Personally: my family.

What is your earliest memory?
Being in my cot and smelling a very strong aromatic smell. It wasn’t my nappy... It was my grandfather’s pipe tobacco.

What are you passionate about?
Exercise – I try to keep fit. Wine – choosing it and drinking it.

Do you always tell the truth?
Does anyone?! I strive to always be ethical, but hold my hand up to little white lies.

What has been the lowest point in your life?
The death of my wife, Karen, after 24 years together.

How do you relax?
Drinking the aforementioned wine. Watching a good film or reading a good book.

What keeps you awake at night?
The complexity of relationships within my family.

How do you keep yourself grounded?
By recognising my huge fortune to have relatively good health and the love of people around me.

What makes you angry?
Inconsiderate people. Impoliteness.

Which person has been the greatest influence on you professionally?
My mentor David Woodrow in my early leadership career. He was truly inspirational.

What are you reading for pleasure right now?
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker.

Do you fear dying?
I do not fear dying – it’s inevitable! I do fear illness and being incapacitated. Most of all, I would hate to lose my mental faculty.

What would you have written on your tombstone?
‘He had a clever mind.’

What do you feel guilty about?
I consider guilt to be a redundant emotion and try to avoid it.

What makes you laugh?
A good joke. Music and dancing make me happy.

Where will your next holiday be to and why?
South of France between Nice and Cannes. I’ve spent 35 years holidaying in Italy but the south of France seduced me last year.

If you could change anything about society what would it be?
Inequality of birth.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being on a sunny terrace with my loved ones, with a glass of wine in one hand and an engrossing book in the other.

Do you believe in God?
No. When younger I went through a phase of religious exploration, which philosophically revealed incompatibility. So my answer now has to be ‘No’.

What’s your most treasured possession?
A ceramic pot that was given to me by a Bedouin tribe I had the honour of staying with when I worked as a geologist in Arabia.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting to the end of each day with my sanity intact.

Laurie Clarke’s first career was as a geologist in Africa, South America, Australia and the Middle East. He changed career to become an Executive Director/Manager in a variety of organisations, latterly Managing Director with the National Trust and Charles Wells Ltd. He has a degree in psychology, diplomas in counselling and herbalism, and a lifelong interest in mental capital and wellbeing. Currently CEO of BACP, he is also the proud parent of Joshua and Alexandra, a school governor, a keen walker, rower, cyclist and avid sci-fi reader.