about anne
I lived abroad for 20 years and completed my counselling training in the UK.
I have worked both with a low-cost counselling service, and in private practice, in person and also online.
I have seen first hand that working holistically often takes clients beyond what is possible through talking therapy alone, and that in this way many people find they are able to more quickly release enduring relational, spiritual and psychosomatic patterns.
Despite my holistic training and approach, you will not find me in tie dye and velvet. I am pragmatic, logical and grounded, having had an earlier corporate career in law, project management, operations and HR for 20+ years, before retraining as a therapist.
My training includes:
MA Psychotherapy & Healing Practice, Middlesex University, UK
integrative, psychodynamic focus, Jungian psychology at core
Energy Psychology, EnergyPsychotherapyWorks UK
foundation course plus advanced training in muscle testing, EFT (tapping), AIT, TAT, Ask & Receive, addressing physical illnesses from an energetic perspective.
Emotionally Focussed Therapy (EFT) for Couples, NZ
externship, core skills levels 1 and 2 i.e. all trainings complete and now working on requirements for certification
I also did some training in working with children and worked with UK charity Place2Be as an in-school counsellor. Whilst I chose to focus on working with adults, this training and experience enriched my understanding of how we carry patterns in to adulthood:
• Volunteer Counsellor Training, Place2Be, UK
children’s emotional wellbeing, attachment theory, metaphor, making endings• Working with Children Facing Loss and Bereavement, BACP, UK
As well as my psychotherapy background, I integrate a number of other trainings and approaches to support my clients, including:
• NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)
Practitioner, certified via Society of NLP, USA• Wellbeing and Relaxation therapies
many and varied trainings, with focus on the power of breath•Healing
2 year comprehensive training with NFSH The Healing Trust UK• Soul Midwives UK
foundation training in working as an end of life companion
I am currently registered with PBANZ (The Psychotherapists Board of Aotearoa New Zealand) as a Psychotherapist on an interim basis, whilst I complete the requirements to become fully registered in New Zealand.
Energy Psychology
What’s Energy Psychology?
Our understanding of how stress affects us at a physical, cellular level continues to grow. We now know that ongoing stress is linked to cardiovascular disease; eating disorders; sexual, skin and gastro issues, and also the big C. We also know that stress in childhood directly and dramatically affects physical and mental health in adulthood, as well as life expectancy. For some startling statistics, see Paediatrician Dr Nadine Burke Harris’ TEDMed talk on the ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences Study):
Those of us who work with Energy Psychology believe that whilst traditional talking therapy helps, because some stresses are held also at a deeper cellular level, engaging the body’s physical energies allows this stress to release more fully and quickly.
Energy Psychology, or Energy Psychotherapy, is the name given to what are actually many small groupings of therapies that have been developed by psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists, specifically for the psychological setting. These therapies apply principles and techniques for working with the body’s physical energies to facilitate desired changes in emotions, thought and behaviour.
Many of the Energy Psychology therapies make use of ‘muscle testing’ (usually a light touch on the wrist of the client by the therapist). Intentions, words and thoughts are also elicited to varying degrees with each of the therapies. Some of the therapies use the Chinese meridian (acupressure) system e.g. EFT (tapping), and some work with the Indian chakras e.g. AIT; whilst others could be said to be influenced by prayer in the Christian tradition e.g. Ask & Receive.
However, you don’t need to have any particular belief system (or to have childhood trauma or PTSD), to benefit from Energy Psychology. Science is starting to show us why these therapies work at a neurobiological level, and thus they are becoming increasingly used in mainstream medical settings. As a combined somatic and cognitive (body-mind) approach, Energy Psychotherapy is now recognised for the treatment of PTSD by NICE, the institute which decides which drugs and treatments are government funded in England. And see this TEDx talk by Psychologist Dr Peta Stapleton about how EFT works for patients who have panic attacks and eating disorders:
Whichever way they do it, what the Energy Psychotherapies are doing is telling the body’s stress response system to calm down about a particular situation, so that you can process whatever it is that you need to, to get through whatever it is you are going through. This is turn can relieve the anxiety, sleeplessness, pain, overwhelm, depression and other symptoms, which accompany stress. This happens often without the need to talk at length about traumatic events or memories.
In the end, when we are struggling with symptoms, or we are not happy or coping, it doesn’t matter how or why something can help us, we come to therapy because we want to feel better.
In the words of a teenage client,
“It’s weird, but it works”.
Contact Me
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