about hedwig
Hedwig (Hetty) is an independent therapeutic social worker, trainer, author and social work lecturer. After her initial social work training, she completed further training in a variety of therapeutic approaches, including DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy), EMDR, TRE® (Tension, Stress and Trauma Release), EFT, BUSS® and the Nurtured Heart Approach® . In 2022 she gained an Msc in Therapeutic Interventions for Psychological Trauma.
Hedwig has worked in adoption and special guardianship support services for many years and was part of the small team that set up the Centre for Adoption Support in Warrington.
Hedwig has a special interest in attachment, trauma, and in body-focussed approaches to working with trauma. Hedwig is registered with Social Work England and has an Enhanced DBS check.
What might therapeutic support look like?
What is therapeutic social work?
Therapeutic social workers are qualified social workers who have completed additional training in one or more therapeutic approaches. The main difference between a therapeutic social worker and a counsellor or psychotherapist is that therapeutic social workers work with people in a systemic way. This means that they consider, together with you, how your family, support network, community and even wider systems in the country and world might contribute to your challenges, as well as to your wellbeing.
Because social workers are interested in you as a whole person, they may also make recommendations for things you could try outside of the therapeutic intervention to make a positive difference. As social workers, we practice in an anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory way, working flexibly and in collaboration with you, moving at a pace that feels safe for us both.
talking therapies and body-focussed/somatic therapies
Over past 7 years I have become increasing interested in body-focussed approaches, such as EMDR, TRE , EFT and in sensory processing focussed interventions such as BUSS (more information on these approaches can be found in the 'Therapeutic Services' pages.
Many children and adults benefit from talking about their memories, fears and hopes. It can be very powerful to have someone listen to you attentively and to be encouraged to think deeply and honestly about your experiences and worries. Sometimes hearing yourself describe what is on your mind, or to verbally express a realisation can make a huge difference.
However, for many other people, talking does not seem to make things better at all and may even make them feel worse. They may not know why they feel the way they do, or may feel too frightened or ashamed to talk about their experiences. For those people, it may be more beneficial to engage with therapeutic approaches that don't rely on talking. By using the body to express and process stress and traumatic experiences, you can feel a sense of relief and a greater ease. For some people this opens the door to a more talking-based therapy, while for others this type of therapy is all they need to feel better.
Most of the people I work with tend to benefit from a combination of talking and body-based approaches. Each session may have elements of each, depending on what you need on that day, and in order to work towards your goal.
Therapeutic alliance
I work in a relational way, which means that I aim to build an effective working relationship with you, and to help you feel safe in our sessions. When I meet a new client or new clients, we start by getting to know each other and by working out what you would most like to achieve with the help of therapeutic support. If you are comfortable to do so, we will discuss what you might have tried already and how helpful this has been. Once we have identified your goal, we will discuss how we will start to work towards this and what kind of approach(es) may be the most appropriate for you.
This collaboration and sense of safety is important, whether we work together for one session of TRE, or whether we may work together on a longer term, for example for therapeutic parenting support. I believe that people are unable to recover and develop if they do not feel safe.
Diversity statement
This therapeutic service aims to practice cultural humility and curiosity, enthusiastically welcomes members of the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrates neurodiversity.