Current and historic trauma therapy in Telford
Alix Brown – biographical note
Alix came to psychotherapy from a background which included an Honours Degree in Chemistry and a doctorate in Astronomy as well as an M.A. in Contemporary Cultural Studies.
She is a qualified teacher, having taught in secondary schools and colleges of further education. She has been an extramural lecturer for University College, London and the University of Birmingham and has provided input as a guest lecturer on other university courses. She has worked as a therapist since 1987.
Alix is a qualified EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapist as well as a certified accredited EFT Practitioner. EMDR is a recognised way of working with trauma- it is recognised by the World Health Organisation and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). She is registered with EMDR Europe.
The accrediting body for EFT is AAMET International. EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) was developed by Gary Craig and, essentially, is a way to calm emotional responses so that an individual can think more clearly and make better choices. It works on tapping on selected acu-pressure points (many of which are the same points used in acu-puncture – but without the needles!).
It is a technique that anybody can learn and apply for themselves but, especially when working on difficult and traumatic emotions, it is best done with an experienced practitioner.
There is good scientific evidence that explains how EFT works. Researcher Candace Pert in “Molecules of Emotion” describes how emotions are “cellular signals that are involved in the process of translating information into physical reality…..when emotions are expressed – which is to say that the biochemical that are the substrate of emotions are flowing freely – all systems are united and made whole. When emotions are suppressed, denied, not allowed to be whatever they may be, our network pathways get blocked, stopping the flow of the vital feel-good unifying chemicals that run both our biology and our behaviour.”
EFT provides a non-invasive, non-traumatic way of dealing with those suppressed emotions and the blocks in our energy system.
Alix trained over a period of time to become a psychotherapist, starting this from a CQSW training and a Masters in Social Science. She then attended a variety of training including a Certificate in Adolescent Counselling and one in Emotional Literacy at the Institute of the Arts in Therapy and Education in London.
She was accredited by the BACP in 2002 and is now a Senior Accredited Practitioner.
Alix will arrange an initial session so that private clients can visit the centre and decide if they wish to pursue therapy.
Polly Burns – biographical note
Before training as a psychotherapist, Polly trained and worked as a nurse for several years. She has also worked with a social work team as a Home Care Organiser and as a Welfare Rights Worker (specialising in disability rights) for the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Her experience as a therapist is wide-ranging. She has worked with adult survivors of sexual abuse and also at a Barnardo’s Family Centre providing therapy for parents of children considered to be “at risk”. She has also been involved in providing individual and group therapy as part of a project specifically for young women who self-harm. More recently, she has provided therapy for young mothers at a local family centre and individual therapy for children attending local infant and junior schools.
Her most recent post has been as therapist for severely traumatised children cared for in a residential setting, working as part of a Recovery team. She also provides supervision for social workers in the post-adoption field. She has run a number of training course for social workers, residential workers and counsellors.
Polly can offer individual therapy for adults or children, “Theraplay” sessions for children and carers in family or residential settings and focused life-story work. She can also offer arts-based workshops for residential teams to explore issues of transference and counter-transference as well as consultations about team dynamics and the impact of parallel processes or on individual children.
Polly can provide training for therapists, residential workers or foster-carers on the neurobiology of early development and its relevance to foster-care or residential placements, the importance of play and transference, counter-transference and projective identification.
Polly is a graduate of the HEAL (Human Equine Alliance for Learning) programme run in the USA by Leigh Shambo. She is a fully qualified equine facilitated psychotherapist working with her four horses.