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Hi I have some flexibility and usually I'm available during the week and some evenings. 

 I look forward to hearing from you. If you email or call we can arrange and initial free appointment.

You look fine on the outside. 

But inside... your nervous system is still bracing. 

Anxiety, freeze, shutdown, overthinking, people-pleasing... 

You've done the therapy. 

Saw the GP: get given the diagnosis: depression, OCD, fatigue, somatisation, C-PTSD, panic, dissociation, addiction, anger. 

You understand what happened. 

But your body hasn't caught up yet. 

Because trauma isn't just a memory. 

It's a survival response that never completed. 

IFS helps your body learn something new: "You're safe now." 

EMDR helps you go back and resolve traumatic memories. 

Often memories are like little videos replaying adverse events. 

We can stop you regurgitating old events and going over and over and over things in your mind.

We can go back and reclaim your Self, with compassion and love.

As a clinical nurse specialist i practiced in liaison psychiatry in the NHS for many years. 

I can see how the mind and body often are working against each other.

 'Emotional trauma' is an embodied experience and requires an embodied response. 

I have completed the Internal Family Systems’ training to Level 3 and I am also EMDR Accredited.

"Johnnie's knowledge and how he articulates several techniques to adjust to each traumatic event, in order to achieve the intended results, is simply outstanding. I went from being a shadow of myself, numb and depressed, to being a completely new person, strong, confident, positive and having more control of my thoughts"... (client testimonial)

I'm a trauma focused therapist meaning we can talk about your symptoms, your problems, your history and your difficulties.

 And then we can locate the root cause of the issue, which is often replaying itself in your nervous system. As they say: Your Body keeps the Score.

 It is a complicated thing to write down and actually it is quite simple when we get together to be present with your issue and witness it with love and compassion.

So we're not trying to get rid of your anger and fight it. We turn towards it and see what it is trying to protect you from. 

 This might be a memory of abuse or neglect or maltreatment, poverty, bullying at school, abandonment.... 

 We go back and reclaim the little boy or girl who suffered and bring them back home to you.

 When we do this your nervous system relaxes and the anger subsides. 

 If you have been doing something to resolve the anger, like drinking, the drinking may well reduce significantly.

 It isn't an overnight fix but going deeper into the problem, in an embodied way, is often better than talking about your symptoms.

I have worked clinically in the NHS for over 20 years in liaison psychiatry. 

I have trained with the IFS Institute, to Level 3, as a registered Internal Family Systems' therapist.

I am also accredited with the EMDR Association and EMDR Europe. 

I have a postgraduate background in mental health and counselling. 

Your first session is an opportunity to relax and we can talk gently about anything you like. 

 There is no emphasis to locate a problem. Often you will come up with something. 

 The space is yours and we can develop a friendly therapeutic relationship to enjoy.

 Yes we might hit upon something painful perhaps. But we go at your pace and if you want to chat about anything, the weather, football, films... 

 Whatever is troubling you will show up and we can build on it.

 It is confidential and you don't even have to speak of any abusive experience, or anything private and perhaps shameful.

 There is no judgement just compassion and healing using some techniques that genuinely work. 

If you're not happy of course we can leave it, there is no failure in trying. I will always try my best for you.

Please contact me on +44 07525 456544 or email me on johnnie@eastkenttherapy.co.uk

I am normally available during the week, where i offer weekly and fortnightly online Internal Family Systems' therapy and counselling for mental health and personal and emotional problems. 

I am also an accredited EMDR therapist so i can help additionally with trauma and traumatic memories.

Thank you. 

Hello I offer empathic and compassionate trauma-informed psychotherapy and counselling. 

You look fine on the outside. 

But inside... your nervous system is still bracing. 

Anxiety, freeze, shutdown, overthinking, people-pleasing... 

You've done the therapy. 

Saw the GP: get given the diagnosis: depression, OCD, fatigue, somatisation, panic, C-PTSD.

You understand what happened. 

But your body hasn't caught up yet. 

Because trauma isn't just a memory. 

It's a survival response that never completed. 

IFS helps your body learn something new: "You're safe now." 

EMDR helps you go back and resolve traumatic memories. 

Often memories are like little videos replaying adverse events. 

We can go back and reclaim your Self, with compassion and love.

Once we resolve the underpinning trauma we can stop the dyregulation inside.

 You can form a safe relationship with your inner child.

 We can unburden the tension and fear in your nervous system.

 Internal Family systems is a popular therapy that understands psychological problems and disturbance as being a way the nervous system is trying to protect you.

 If you dissociate or are hypervigilant, if you fear intimacy, are chronically tired, or have somatic pain even.

 Often if we go back deep enough these symptoms are an expression of traumatic pain.

 Using EMDR we can release you from the replaying of old wounds and bring safety into your body.

 IFS works well with EMDR as they combine to release and heal and connect with compassion with your Self.

In therapy together there is an opportunity to get to know your inner child, and how you responded to your life in your family and in your experiences when you were a boy or girl.

As we get older, often our nervous system doesn't always realise we have grown up and it is good to spend time noticing the parts that are operating in a child-like way.

A dysregulated nervous system can account for most mental health and emotional and somatic issues. These can be anxiety, panic, fear and flight responses, avoidance, rumination. You might get depressed and angry, overwork, have conpulsions and OCD, and even develop complex symptoms such as C-PTSD, dissociation, flashbacks and difficulty being present. 

IFS creates a compassionate shared space to get to know these parts carrying some emotional trauma. The therapy isn’t about removing these issues, but we turn to these dysregulated parts, and get to know them. We witness, validate and love all of yourself. We can converse with your wounded ‘child parts’ and begin to install peace and safety, reducing their distress. Essentially we form a relationship with your parts and use also EMDR to process acutely painful memories. Using retrieval techniques we can take you out of trauma situations and repair and heal your nervous system. 

 In this way your whole body and systems relaxes and settles down, and this facilitates space for your authentic, creative Self to grow inside, inside a peaceful, regulatef body. So this is an embodied therapy reprocessing trauma, beyond intellectual talk therapy. We are not removing your issues we are loving them. 

 EMDR and IFS together are particularly effective for emotional trauma, abuse, neglect, bullying, abandonment, and the long-term effects of difficult relationships.

I am accredited with EMDR Europe and the EMDR Association UK, and trained to Levels 3 with the IFS Institute. I hold NHS registration and Enhanced DBS. 

I have worked clinically in the NHS for 20 yrs in liaison psychiatry. 

I can offer a free 30 minute Zoom session, which is confidential and a chance to explore your concerns. 

I also specialise in: Codependency where you may abandon yourself to meet others' needs. I can help you navigate narcissism and abusive relationships. I was a manager of an NHS crisis team and offer help in your recovery, supporting you in reclaiming voice, boundaries, and self-trust.

Outside my therapeutic work, I'm a writer and a judge for the Orwell Prize.

Please also text me confidentially on 07525 456544 and i will get back to you. Thank you.