He attended Eggar's Grammar School, Alton, from 1970 to 1976, and then the University of Bristol, from which he graduated with a BSc (IIi) in Geology and Zoology in 1980 and a PhD in Behavioural Science in 1985.
In 1998, he was awarded a Diploma in counselling and psychotherapy from the University of Surrey, and then, in 2001 he was ordained by The New Seminary, Oxford, as an Interfaith Minister and spiritual counsellor.