I draw on two main modalities, namely Gestalt therapy and Deep Brain Reorienting therapy.

​

Gestalt psychotherapy

​'Gestalt' is a German word meaning 'shape', 'form' or 'patterned whole'. Gestalt therapy focuses on the whole person including their relationships and context, both past and present, and aims to support us to find more choiceful and satisfying ways to live.

​

Gestalt therapy aims to build greater awareness of our inner experience and relationships by tracking our moment-to-moment experience in the here and now - the flow of sensations, feelings, thoughts, movements and images.

​​​

This here-and-now approach allows in-depth exploration of our dilemmas and enables all parts of ourselves to be included and heard - perhaps one part wants to move forward but another part is frightened to do so and yet another part is ashamed of being frightened. 

​​

Gestalt therapy also emphasises that our situation is never simply individual but is embedded in relationships with others and the world around us.

​

Deep Brain Reorienting psychotherapy (DBR) 
DBR can be helpful for people who have had traumatic or shocking experiences, including attachment disruption and neglect. Neuroscience suggests that such experiences create repeating sequences in the brain, so that we become sensitised to potential threats to ourselves and our relationships, leading to hypervigilance, anxiety and dissociation.

DBR can enable the shock and pain linked to these experiences to be assimilated, by slowly and carefully tracking the physiological sequence of brain and body responses. DBR was developed by a psychiatrist working in NHS Scotland, Dr Frank Corrigan, and draws on recent neuroscience as well as decades of experience in working therapeutically with people with trauma histories.

In a DBR session, we begin by identifying a present-day stimulus – e.g., a door slamming that evokes memories of a past incident of physical violence. A stimulus can also be relational – e.g., if our partner gets angry or goes silent, we may have a strong reaction activated by childhood experiences or fears of abandonment or rejection. As children, a threat to our relationship with caregivers is potentially life-threatening – so our innate attachment system responds with shock and terror, particularly if our protests do not seem to be heard. 

We then turn towards the present-day stimulus from a steady and grounded place, and slowly and carefully track the physiological sensations and emotions that follow. This can enable brain and body to assimilate what has happened and move towards healing.

DBR is showing good results in clinical trials and seems able to explore traumatic and shocking experiences without leading to overwhelm or dissociation.

You can find more information about DBR, including recent publications and video explanations, at: https://deepbrainreorienting.com/