Therapeutic services at a glance

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy was developed by Dan Hughes as a therapeutic approach to help children and young people who are adopted or live in foster care to make sense of their earlier experiences and current situation. I am Level 2 DDP trained and apply DDP principles of Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (PACE) in my work with children, young people and adults. More information can be found here: Parents & Carers - DDP Network  DDP can be used as a stand alone approach, but may also inform a broader therapeutic way of working with children, young people and their families. 

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.  EMDR can be used to help process traumatic or distressing memories and experiences. When we "process" such (unconscious) memories, we don't forget them, but instead they lose their emotional charge, which means that they have less of a negative impact on our daily functioning. In EMDR we use eye movements, tapping, sounds, or even balancing boards to encourage processing. I have been trained to work in EMDR with adults, children and young people. More information, including videos for adults and children can be found here:  EMDR Association UK - Overcoming trauma with expert help - Overcoming trauma with expert help 

TRE®  is a wonderful self help tool which can be used to achieve a greater sense of relaxation and wellbeing in your body, but can also be used to work with the impact of traumatic experiences. TRE ®  consists of a number of exercises which aim to encourage the body's natural tremoring or shaking mechanism.  Allowing the muscles to release tension through shaking can calm and "reset" the nervous system. Some people only need one guided TRE ®  session to learn the technique in a safe environment, while others choose to shake with a TRE®   facilitator for a number of sessions. More information can be found here:  What is TRE® | Tension, Stress and Trauma Release : TRE® (traumaprevention.com) I am am a certified TRE®  provider. 

TRE®  may be particularly suitable for people who prefer not to talk about their experiences, for people who feel detached from their body and/or may experience disassociation.  You may choose to bring a friend or family member with you to a TRE®  session. For parents/carers and children or teenagers a TRE®  session may be a fun opportunity to experience calm and connection together. 

Some people find relief from physical tension and pain through TRE®. The exercises can be adapted to suit your physical needs and abilities.   

EFT or "tapping"  involves tapping on a number of points on the face, upper body and hands to help manage thoughts and sensations that cause anxiety, stress or distress. EFT is easy to learn and many people experience an almost immediate sense of relief. EFT can be practiced at home between sessions and may become a helpful anxiety management strategy for children, young people and adults. EFT may be used as a main approach in a session, or as a component of a session. 

The Nurtured Heart Approach ®  (NHA) was initially developed to help children with a diagnosis of ADHD, but has over the years been proven to be beneficial for all children (and adults!), especially those who have a degree of "intensity". The premise of NHA ®  is simple: we focus on what is going right instead of on what is going wrong,  while providing children with absolute clarity on expectations. More information can be found here:  Home - Nurtured Heart Institute . I am an advanced NHA ®  trainer. 

Inadvertently, many parents/carers teach their children that they will give them most of their attention when things go wrong, when rules are broken or when the child misbehaves. This can create a viscous cycle of children misbehaving whenever they need attention, and parents/carers becoming ever more vigilant for "bad" behaviour. NHA®  helps parents to enjoy their children again and to teach them that they get more attention when they all cooperate. NHA®  may be used in therapeutic parenting sessions, but may also be beneficial for couples who experience emotional distance and/or frequent disagreements. 

I am trained up to Level 2 in Building  Underdeveloped Sensory Systems (BUSS ®), an approach which aims to support children to fill in the gaps in their sensory systems caused by early experiences of neglect and/or trauma. In my sessions with children who have experienced early trauma I will often include playful, sensory focussed activities in order to explore the impact of such activities on the nervous system, or to teach the child and parent an activity to practice at home to improve bodily regulation. Not only are these activities meant to be fun, but they often also give the child or young person "evidence" that therapeutic support can make a difference in how they feel.