BABCP Accredited Psychological Therapist

I am a BABCP (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies) Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Practitioner.  I have over 13 years' experience working with a broad variety of clients with mental health difficulties across the NHS, private practice and voluntary sector settings.

I take a gentle but pragmatic approach to help people work through their difficulties and focus on client strengths. I am a friendly but professional therapist and am passionate about human psychology.

I utilise traditional CBT and newer CBT interventions ('3rd wave' CBT), such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, metacognitive therapy and the compassionate mind approach, to offer a flexible and individualised treatment process. I interweave these theories with EMDR and Attachment Informed EMDR, including acknowledgement and understanding of our internal 'parts' that influence our helpful and less helpful behaviours. I am a highly empathic person and offer an accepting & safe space to help clients overcome the barriers that stop them from living life the way they want to.

I work with adults over 18 years of age experiencing a broad range of emotional and psychological difficulties. These include but are not limited to; general anxiety, health anxiety, social anxiety and OCD), depression, post-natal depression, post-natal anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex PTSD, low self-esteem and work-related stress.

I trained in EMDR under EMDR Europe & Ireland Association's first president, Richard Mitchell, and am also trained in Attachment Informed (AI) EMDR.  AI EMDR is used to help people work on early life attachment traumas. Using the therapeutic relationship and Attachment Informed EMDR we work together to help you feel stronger and repair developmental deficits. These deficits can lead to anxiety, depression, difficulties in present day relationships, friendships and self-esteem to name but a few areas. See the link below to learn more about Attachment Informed EMDR.

Each session lasts around 60 minutes for CBT and 60 to 90 minutes for EMDR. Please note: 48 hours notice is required for cancellations.

Daytime and evening appointments are available. Please get in touch if you have any questions and/or would like to arrange an initial assessment.

What are CBT & EMDR?

CBT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, is an evidence-based treatment for a wide range of psychological difficulties. This means that it is the most recommended psychotherapeutic approach by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) as it is proven to be effective for the treatment of depression and anxiety.

The word Cognitive in this setting simply means thoughts, imagine it like the cogs in your brain whirring around. Together we look at how your thoughts and beliefs (about yourself, the world and other people) impact on what you do and how you feel emotionally and physically. We aim to create a 'formulation', a bit like a map, to help you understand more about your difficulties, acknowledging where they came from and focusing on how they are being maintained in the present. Once this understanding is developed then together we can work out how to make changes, in a way that feels suitable for you as an individual.

The approach is collaborative and transparent; each session is a joint effort and the rationale for therapeutic strategies is explained. Client goals are identified together at the start of therapy and we review these regularly to ensure that you are getting what you hoped for from therapy.

EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing, works on the cognitive, emotional and physiological aspects of human distress. It is now recognised as one of the treatments of choice for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by NICE and the World Health Organisation, as well as CBT. There is an ever-growing body of evidence for the efficacy of EMDR for other psychological difficulties such as depression, OCD, stress, generalised anxiety disorder, low self-esteem/low confidence. (For further information see research by psychologists such as Nanni, et al. 2012., Kowal, 2005, Brown & F. Shapiro, 2006., Gavreau & Bouchard, 2008.) EMDR can be used to enhance self-development as well as treating mental ill health; it allows people to overcome the barriers that prevent them from reaching their personal and professional goals.

This brief video explains how EMDR can be used to help adults:

To find out more about EMDR see this article published by the British Psychological Society, written by Chartered Psychologist and former EMDR Europe and Ireland President, Robin Logie:

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-7/emdr-more-just-therapy-ptsd

To learn more about EMDR for attachment difficulties please follow this link Dr Laurel Parnell's website:

https://parnellemdr.com/our-approach/ 

Online Sessions

I am currently offering online sessions. Recent research shows that it is equally as effective as in person sessions.  Clients report that it feels safe and comfortable as they are in their own space, it removes the stresses of travel to and from sessions and it can fit more easily around busy schedules.  It provides additional privacy and reduced anxiety to some clients as it removes the possibility of bumping into anyone at a therapy venue. 

I utilise programmes such as Zoom, Whatsapp video call and Bilateral Base to provide video calls. Bilateral Base allows us to do online EMDR by providing eye movement tools as well as sound tools.