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Types of Therapy We Specialize In

EMDR is a relatively new therapy established within the last 10 years or so. It is an extremely effective treatment for people – children as well as adults – who have had traumatic experiences. It is also helpful for a variety of emotional and behavioural problems in adults and children.When something dangerous happens, our body and brain respond in a different way. Our body recognises the emergency and takes protective action. The messages to the brain seem to be put into an emergency store, often without going through the normal memory-forming processes.

These experiences, with the original sounds, thoughts and feelings are recorded in the brain as raw unprocessed information. Sometimes the brain does not process them in the normal way to form ordinary memories. Furthermore, they are even stored in a different part of the brain. Traumatic memories seem to become ‘locked’ in the brain in their raw form. When these memories are recalled, they can be very upsetting. Sometimes, they can be triggered apparently out of the blue causing flashbacks, nightmares and outbursts. They can make it very difficult to deal with ordinary stressful situations in the calm and reasonable way we normally would. EMDR ‘unblocks’ the brain’s processing so that traumatic memories become ordinary ones.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a gold standard therapy that can be helpful for children with a number of difficulties such as Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Dissorder, Generalised Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Phobias and Trauma. CBT is used with children and adults of all ages. CBT focuses on the connections between thoughts, feelings and behaviour whilst supporting you to develop an understanding of how their distress feels in their body and how they can recognise their anxious thoughts and behaviours. All therapists delivering individualised CBT are BABCP accredited or working towards accreditation under close supervised practice. All of our CBT therapists are supervised and supported appropriately to deliver therapy to the highest possible standard.

Play Therapy is a method by which using play means that the child can explore their thoughts and feelings in creative and dynamic ways, without having to use words to articulate themselves. In Play Therapy sessions, children explore their own creativity and express themselves using media such as: drawing and painting, water and clay, sand tray and miniatures, guided imagery and relaxation techniques, drama and puppetry, poetry, movement and music. Talking about problems can be hard for children. A child may not have the words to describe how they are feeling, or why they are behaving as they do.

A child may not be able to recognise what they find difficult, or explain it to someone if asked. Play Therapy provides the expertise and time to do this through play. Play Therapy sessions aim to build a child’s ability to develop healthy and resilient relationships, and to work though traumatic experiences which may be preoccupying them. Pre-occupying difficult feeling can make learning at school or managing feelings impossible. Addressing difficult emotions through play provides a layer of story or metaphor to what is being shared and felt. Metaphor can provide a degree of removal from experience for the child. It can feel safer and less intense for a child to express themselves or explore their experiences through play.

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