Psychological therapy in Brighton and Hove
Welcome and some info about me
Welcome to my new website. My name is Anna, and I am a Chartered Clinical Psychologist working part-time in the NHS in East Sussex and offering private psychological therapy in Brighton and Hove.
I hope that you will find my blog posts interesting and a helpful tool to decide whether you would like to work with me. The therapeutic relationship is a key factor in the effectiveness of psychological therapy and therefore it is important that there is a good fit between the therapist and the client.
I am particularly passionate in working with people who have experienced traumatic events in their lives and I specialise in trauma-informed and trauma-focused therapy. I primarily practice using Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR - click here to know more) when working with trauma but I also try to adopt an integrative approach in my work with clients, drawing from a range of therapeutic modalities including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT).
To find our more about the way I work click here.
I am very passionate in trying to reduce mental health stigma, particularly in mental health professionals with lived experience of mental health difficulties. I believe that we all go through difficult times in our lives that can impact on our psychological wellbeing and lead to mental health difficulties, in the absence of appropriate support. Psychologists and mental health professionals are certainly not immune to this. However, societal and work-place expectations around the role of a psychologist / mental health professional as a "helper" / "carer", can make it incredibly difficult and, at times, unsafe for professionals to open up about their own experiences of mental health and access support.
In recent years there has been increased awareness and discussion around the topic of lived experience in mental health professionals. The #onlyus campaign, the In2gr8mentalhealth website and The Wounded Healer's talks are only a few examples of what seems to be a step in the right direction... but we are still far from creating an open, collaborative and stigma-free work culture that enables mental health professionals to be open about our mental health in the same way that we are about our physical health.
Interestingly, in the United Kingdom, having our own personal therapy is not a requirement for Clinical Psychologists, although it is a recognised step in other professional groups (e.g. psychotherapists). Sitting "on the other side" of the therapeutic relationship can be a scary but enriching process. It can help us bridge the unhelpful divide between "them" ("the clients") and "us" ("the therapists"). My hope is that one day we will be able to just interact with each other as equal human beings, trying to navigate the confusing and wonderful journey that is life.
Get in touch to schedule an initial consultation.
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