Therapy for emotional wellbeing
Art, EMDR, and Trauma Therapy services and Supervision in Glasgow and online
Advice for Seeking Support
Tips on how to finding the right support
With so many types of therapy and therapists and counsellors all claiming to work with the similar things, it can be super confusing figuring out how to go about finding the right type of support for you.
Some tips for finding support are to first think about why are you seeking help and what you hope to get out of having support. You might ask yourself what would you want to be different about yourself, how you feel, or about your life? This might look like you wanting to feel less lost, more present, less affected by past experiences, feel more in touch with yourself, feel more confident, or feel less anxious, less numb, less in pain.
Often people find it tricky to imagine what they want to be different, so you could instead consider what you don't like/find difficult about your life now. This could be patterns you find yourself stuck in; feelings you struggle with; relationship issues and so on. Essentially what prompted you to seek out support.
Once you have a wee list of what you are looking for, a key thing to hold in mind is that the working relationship is key to any therapies success regardless of what type of therapy/counselling you choose. When looking for support, pick out people who like the look of in how they describe their work and you feel would get you as a person.
With those things in mind, you can then narrow down what type of approach would help you get to where you need. Therapy falls into two branches: top down and bottom up.
Top down approaches focus on using higher thinking (logic and conscious thoughts) to influence feeling and behaviours. Top down therapies are the more traditional therapies. Some examples of types of top down approaches are: CBT, DBT, Psychodynamic, Person Centred Therapy, Counselling, and Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy. Top down approaches are effective in addressing anxiety and non chronic depression and general life challenges through gaining new insight and thought-based change. They can be really helpful for big life transitions and provide a regular space to help navigate change.
Bottom up approaches work the opposite way, starting with the body responses, feelings and the nervous system to create a felt sense of safety before working up way to the thinking brain. Some examples of bottom up therapies are: Art therapy, IFS, EMDR, Creative therapies (Music therapy, Drama therapy, Sand Tray therapy), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Brainspotting, Coherence therapy, and, Somatic Experiencing.
Bottom up approaches are the recommended for trauma because intense life experience and traumatic experience bypass logic and are stored in the primal feeling parts of our brains which higher thinking cannot access alone. They are effective for anxiety and panic disorders; PTDS and CPTSD; chronic stress, depression and burn out; and, dissociation. These therapies tend to be experiential so work well for those who struggle to put their experiences into words as well as those who cannot get out of their heads, and, for those are very analytical and have lots of insight, but are still stuck in the same patterns.
Occupational therapy and trauma informed therapies (therapists who hold additional in depth training specifically about working with trauma, dissociation and shame) include elements of both top down and bottom up approaches.
The last tip is take a note of your initial impression of each practioner in how they respond to you when you contact them and what you thought of them in a consultation. If you aren't sure about them, don't feel pressured into meeting them. Having a good vibe off someone is key and often a good enough as a starting point.
Important things to be aware of when seeking support in the UK.
An important thing to be aware of is the lack of legal regulation for therapy and counselling in the UK. Currently only the creative therapies of art, music and drama therapy along with psychiatrists and psychologists are legally regulated in the UK. Legal regulation means that each therapist is required to have a certain level of experience and a certain level of education (either a masters or PhD) in order to qualify. Once qualified they are then required to register with a regulatory body and to have insurance in order to practice.
For all other types of counselling and therapy there are no legal requirements to adhere to. There is no set length or type of qualification or level of experience required to practice. For example, A CBT therapist may have only done a 12-week online course or may have done a full masters course where they had to complete placement practice hours before qualifying.
Most practioners join a membership body of their choosing, though this is not a requirement to practice. These membership bodies often offer voluntary accreditation processes which certifies a practioner has achieved a specific level of experience, but have no legal standing to uphold complaints. This means that there are often no real repercussions for any practioner in these circumstances if they cause harm to their clients, or are practising when they have not completed any training (this happens sadly more than you would think), or are not insured at all. They may loose their membership but there is nothing to legally stop them practising. As such, it is advisable to discuss with every practioner which membership body they are with to ensure they are practising safely.
Something being observed now is how often therapists and counsellors claim to be integrative practioners yet have only one qualification. They may read things in books or attend a day or two day workshops and then use techniques without in depth training. As such, I would really encourage everyone seeking support to make sure that the person you are working with has the appropriate training for what they claim to do in their practice.
Please beware of any practioner who offers sensational claims like they can "fix" you or they know better than other, or other professionals do not like them. In my opinion, these professionals are walking red flags.
Another important thing to be aware of is that currently in the UK there is no standard/basic counselling or therapy training (meaning the initial core qualifying qualification of the professional) that I am aware of that adequately trains a person in working with complex trauma. Most courses in the UK now tend to touch on the subject, but do not go into depth into what is required to support a person fully with trauma, particularly with CPTSD. Please be advised this is just my opinion.
If you have experienced significant traumatic events, or would like to process traumatic memory, I would recommend asking each practioner you contact what additional training they have completed that would mean they have the skills to work with what you need. Anyone claiming to work with CPTSD particularly should not only have training in trauma, but also in depth training in working with traumatic shame and in working with dissociation as these are the key distinctions between CPTSD and PTSD.
To ensure you are in safe hands and if the practioner doesn't have the information available on their website, I really recommended asking in the initial contact/consultations: what course they graduated from and what year they qualified; how many years of experience they have actually working; what other in training do they have in the areas you need; how do they approach working with those areas; and, do they have personal indemnity insurance and public liability insurance. Their answers to these questions will really highlight if they know what they are doing and whether their methods are right for you.
Lizzy Pittock is an inclusive practitioner and welcomes people of all ages from all communities, ethnicities, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities.
©2022 Elizabeth Pittock
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