QUALIFICATIONS, TRAINING & EXPERIENCE

It's always a good idea to check through your therapists training and experience, so that you know what, and who you are paying for.. I believe that a therapists fee should reflect experience and training.

​A good therapist will be transparent with the training and experience they have gained.

I have a lot of experience, and have completed an immense amount of CPD, so that you get someone who is able to support you, and provide a good integration of the best therapies at a good fee.

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​Employed Experience 2002 - 2018

​I stopped all my employed and insurance work in 2018, because being helpful wasn't enough. I realised I need to be creative with the therapy I offer, this in turn has helped me become a better practitioner in every way.
 

• Official Government Departments - mental health assessments, short term therapy/counselling, 

• The Priory - Therapist/counsellor - adults & young people - short to long-term work

• Third Sector Organization - Anger & Trauma, Adults counsellor - funded by NHS/CCG - short to long-term work, within community clinics, and a NHS hospitals' psychological therapies department

• Schools Counsellor, primary, secondary, pupil referral units (PRU) and social educational mental health schools (SEMH Schools) (Over 50 schools around the North West) - Inc. pupils, parents/carers, teachers & staff. 

• 7* Employee Assistance Programmes (counselling employees nationwide) - Adults counsellor/therapist - short-term work (6 weeks), mental health assessments & crisis work. Also completing, assessments for NHS services and GP's.

• Looked After Children's (LAC) Counsellor Inc. parents/carers - funded by Wigan local authority

• Substance Misuse Counsellor - funded by Liverpool NHS/CCG

• Suicide Prevention Practitioner - PAPYRUS UK - national charity

• Counsellor & Mental Health Practitioner - Forty Second Street - Manchester - specialist support for young people (11-25 year olds). Funded by NHS/CCG

• Online Counsellor

• Relate - North & South Manchester - counsellor

• Face to Face - charity counsellor for those on low/no income

• NHS Bereavement & Palliative Care Service & Macmillan - bereavement & life-threatening illness

• Mental Health Advisor/support helplines

• Online Advice & Support for concerns around self-harm - TheSite.org (I think that this has now either changed its' name or ceased to exist)

• GP's Surgeries - counselling & mental health assessments.

• Therapeutic residential units, residential homes & schools for people of all ages with Epilepsy, learning & social difficulties including ASC/Autism

• Residential/Assessment units, Leaving Care Units -  Bury, Wirral, Wigan, Manchester, Alderley Edge

• The Samaritans - 2 years 2002 - voluntary

• Brainspotting UK - training assistant for Phase 1,2,3 in Manchester, London & Brighton

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Qualifications

Also check where your therapist trained, was it an accredited, reputable, specialist training establishment? How experienced were the tutors that the therapist trained with..  
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• Post Graduate Certificate Lv7/Masters Level in 'Critical engagement - Person Centred & CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) Therapies' at Temenos/Sheffield Hallam University - with Dr. Joe Curran, Sheffield, UK

• AEDP Immersion: AEDP Lv1 Therapist (Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy) AEDP Institute, Dr. Diana Fosha Live Online, New York City, USA

• Certificate in Supervision - National Counselling Society (NCPS Accredited & Approved). Training approved by British Psychological Society. Manchester, UK

• ​Certificate in Ego State Therapy with EMDR - Robin Shapiro, London, UK

• Certificate in EMDR 1, 2 & 3 - Approved EMDR-UK training. Dr. Derek Farrell, Liverpool, UK

• Certificate in IFS Lv1 - IFS UK Dr. Osnat Arbel Sheffield, UK 

• Certificate in IFS Lv2 - INTENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAM DEEPENING AND EXPANDING IFS - IFS Poland/IFS Institute Dr. Osnat Arbel

• Certificate in IFS Lv3 - IFS Portugal with Dr. Dick Schwartz (this is the highest level of IFS Training currently)

• Certificate in IFS Masterclass - Dr. Frank Anderson

• Certificate in IFS Informed EMDR - Bruce Hersey LCSW

• The Further Reaches of IFS - Unattached Burdens - Robert Falconer 

• IFS Trauma and Dissociation - with Joanne Twombly - Souliology, Sesimbra Portugal

• Lifespan Integration Therapy Lv1 & 2 with Lifespan Integration, Brighton & Hove. With Thanks to Vajralila - UK Lifespan Trainer.

• Diploma Lv4 in Theory & Practice of Counselling (This course focused solely on the Person Centred approach, and was Accredited by British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy/BACP, founded by Pete Sanders) - Person Centred Counselling Services (PCCS) Training Partnership - Manchester. With thanks to Tracey Walshaw and Frances McDonnell.

• Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy - inc NLP, Milton Erikson, CECCH. Birmingham, UK

• Brainspotting/BSP Phase 1 - approved by the British Psychological Society a heavy Person Centred and neurological approach to process trauma, and other concerns. Dr Mark Grixti. Birmingham, UK

• Brainspotting/BSP Phase 2 - approved by the British Psychological Society treatment for trauma, and many other concerns. Dr Mark Grixti. Brighton, UK 

• Brainspotting/BSP Phase 3 - technical BSP training. Complex trauma, sports trauma, and EGO state work. Dr David Grand - Barcelona, Spain.

• Brainspotting for Addictions (known as The Crocodile Setup)- Works with your nervous system, to help recovery and regulation. Dr Roby Abeles (Australia) - London, UK

• Brainspotting Masterclasses -  4 days Barcelona, Spain, by Dr David Grand.

• Deep Brain Reorientating: DBR Level 1: Healing of the Shock at the Core of Traumatic Experiences Dr. Jessica Christie Sands & Dr. Frank Anderson.

• Deep Brain Reorientating: DBR Level 2: Healing of Attachment Shock and Attachment Wounding; and their Impacts on the Seeking of Connection Dr. Jessica Christie Sands & Dr. Frank Anderson.

• Deep Brain Reorientating: DBR Level 3: DBR for Dissociative and Other Complex Trauma Disorders. Dr Frank Corrigan

• Sudden Sound DBR and the neurophenomenology of shock - TBC

• Eye Movement Integration Therapy Lv1 - a specialized neurotherapy designed to treat trauma & PTSD. Eva Pollani. Bath, UK

• Eye Movement Integration Therapy Lv2 & Supervision/advanced - a specialized neurotherapy designed to treat phobia and deep-rooted trauma & PTSD. Eva Pollani, Bath, UK

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma Themes Lv1 - Inclusive of live tutor contact hours, self-learning, experiential personal SP therapy/learning/teaching sessions, SP supervision/consultation practice. Dr. Pat Ogden's Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. With thanks to Esther Perez. Malaga, Spain

• Certificate in NLP Professional Coaching - Central College, England. Birmingham, UK

• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy/DBT Essentials - With Dr. Lane Pederson, PsyD, LP, C-DBT

• Diploma in NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) With Maralyn Tucknott

• Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy - Central College England, Birmingham

• Certificate in Solution Focused Counselling - Central College England. Birmingham

• Certificate in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy - Central College England. Birmingham

• Certificate in Ericksonian Hypnosis - Central College England. Birmingham

• Counselling Skills Lv2 (now level 3) - Manchester

• Counselling Concepts Lv2 (now level 2) - Manchester

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​Further training & Certificates
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• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (A.S.I.S.T) - Living Works

• Adoption trainings: Local Authorities, and charities

• Attachment training

• Awareness of Child Abuse & Neglect

• Bereavement & palliative care counselling - NHS/Trafford Bereavement & Palliative Care Service

• BACP - Audited

• Child & Adult safeguarding 

• ​Child trafficking training

• The Neurobiology of Compassion: Clinical Applications for Therapists

• Conflict resolution

• Counter-terrorism training (WRAP)

• Counselling young people - Relate

• Data protection/GDPR

• Domestic violence - Relate

• Family support training - Beechwood cancer care

• Gestalt Therapy Dream Work

• Group work - NHS

• Epilepsy training - The David Lewis Centre - Alderly Edge, Manchester

• EMDR & Parts Work for Treating Complex Trauma: Somatic Techniques to Decrease Defensiveness and Facilitate Trauma with Dr. Ariel Schwartz

• Healing Broken Bonds: The Consequences of Traumatic Attachment with Dr. Janina Fisher, London, UK

• Intro to Existential Psychotherapy - with Dr. Emmy Van Deurzen

• Integration of Mind, Brain and Body in the Treatment of Trauma - with:  Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

• The Integrated Trauma Therapist: Incorporating IFS with EMDR, SP, CPT, AEDP, and DBT, for Treating Complex Trauma and PTSD. Frank Anderson

• Returning to Wholeness - Understanding and Integrating Trauma - with Dr. Gabor Maté

• Informed IFS Trauma and Dissociation -  with Joanne Twombly & IFSCA online (IFS Canada)

• ​Intro to Gestalt therapy 

• Intro to Hakomi - Hakomi Mallorca

• Intensive Interaction

• Health & Safety - QCF

• ​​Supporting mental health of LGBTQIA+

• Stabilizing the Unstable - In person London, UK. With Dr. Janina Fisher (CPD Cert)

• Mental Health - NHS

• Person Centred sand tray work - PCCS training partnership - Manchester

• Person Centred couples counselling 

• Polyvagal Theory, Oxytocin, and the Neurobiology of Love -  In person with Dr. Stephen Porges - London, UK

• Revolutionizing Trauma Treatment - Babette Rothschild 

• Self Harm - Teaching School Alliance

• Suicide TALK - Living Works

• Timian certificate (challenging behaviour) - BILD

• Treating Complex Trauma with Internal Family Systems (IFS) 2020: Intensive with Dr. Frank Anderson

• Treating Dissociative Disorders (with EMDR & Parts/Ego States) - Dolores Mosquera & Kathy Steele (CPD Cert)

• Understanding & Working With Complex Traumatic Dissociation - ESTD UK - European Society For Trauma & Dissociation (Introductory Course)

• Young people, sex & the law - Brook