TESSA Therapist
Location
Ballymena and 25 mile radius
I am accredited and regulated by the following bodies and adhere to their code of ethics:
- Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC);
- Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) an independent UK-wide health regulator;
- I am accredited by the EMDR Europe Association as an EMDR Therapist and I’m a member of the EMDR All-Ireland Association.
- I am a member of the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth);
Qualifications - 2025 – I am accredited by the EMDR Europe Association as an EMDR Therapist
- 2020 – 2023 Training in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and the Flash Technique (FT) (an adjunct of EMDR)
- 2019 Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level 1
- 2007 MA Arts Psychotherapy (Specialising in Dramatherapy)
- 2001 MA Social Work
- 1995 BA (Hons) Humanities
Special interest
I am particularly interested in somatic psychotherapy (Somatic therapy operates on the premise that what happens to you in your life is stored not only in your mind but also in your body). My clinical experience, my training in EMDR, sensorimotor psychotherapy and creative methodologies embodies my holistic approach when helping to improve the well-being of adults, children, young people and their parents/carers.
Both EMDR, Creative Arts and Dramatherapy are listed as interventions by Beacon House – Therapeutic Services & Trauma Team. They created the “Bottom Up” Approach to address neurodevelopmental
trauma and it is underpinned by the Neuro Sequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), developed by Dr Bruce Perry.
The “Bottom Up” Approach is designed to recover and repair each part of a child’s brain in a specific, phased and effective order.
EMDR is an evidence-based trauma therapy, a structured psychotherapy that has been developed into an effective treatment for post trauma symptoms. It has been recognised and recommended by the World Health Organisation (World Health Organisation 2013), the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, 2020) and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2018) as an effective treatment for PTSD.
EMDR can be used with children, teenagers and adults. Francine Shapiro, who developed the treatment, believed that many PTSD symptoms are caused by unprocessed memories locked within the nervous system. These memories can get triggered in daily life and manifested in a child’s arousal responses, such as fixed negative thinking patterns, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and sometimes nightmares.
Adopted children very often have unprocessed trauma which occurred pre adoption. This trauma continues to impact on their emotional well-being post adoption and can be result in behaviours that are overwhelming for both them and their parent/s.
For younger children or children with intellectual disabilities, modifications can be made to the 8-phase protocol of EMDR. For example, it can be done through story work: an adopted child’s story can be developed with parents and then told to the child while administering BLS (bilateral stimulation). This can be tapping right and left on the child’s feet or hands and can be done by the parent or therapist. This dual attention, the BLS combined with the memories, reduces the distress associated with the memories.
Experience:
I am a therapeutic social worker, an accredited EMDR therapist, arts psychotherapist, arts facilitator and community artist. I have clinical experience in the assessment of forensic risk, mental health, parenting and child protection. I have particular expertise in the area of neuro-diversity; I provide therapeutic intervention to children on an individual and group basis and provide advice and support to parents.
As a therapeutic social worker, I have gained wide-ranging knowledge and skills from working in various statutory agencies and most recently as a senior practitioner in child and adolescent mental health.
I understand the treatment of medical and mental health diagnoses with medicine and have the experience of using behavioural and creative methodologies in conjunction with and without medicine to improve the well-being of children and adolescents. This knowledge and experience combined with my arts psychotherapy training, EMDR and FT training gives me a unique approach in my private practice.
I have worked in many diverse settings including the Education Authority NI, Youth Justice NI, NHS and a range of community non- statutory organisations.
In the Education Authority I have worked within the Happy Healthy Minds Project for Primary Schools since 2021, providing creative expressive workshops for groups of children and play based therapy for individual children.
Within the NHS I have gained extensive knowledge and skills from working as a senior practitioner in a multi-disciplinary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) environment.
As an arts facilitator I work with groups of older people for Arts Care which is a regional arts, health and well-being organisation and charity based in NI. I provide arts facilitation for children and adults with learning disability as well as small groups of young people suffering from anxiety, with and without diagnoses of ADHD and ASD. I believe arts-based group processes, promote positivity and resilience.
I work under Creative Therapy NI.
