ABOUT ME Edel Dewhurst CBT and ACT Therapist
"Learning to create a clearing gives us our life"
- Tara Brach
What you bring to therapy will be unique to you. I take into account where you have come from in terms of your life experiences and how you have come to be as you are. Therapy is about creating space for self-awareness. In your sessions with me, you’ll get to make sense of how you think, feel and behave so that you can come to recognise what works for you and what doesn’t. This opens up a way to change what needs changing.
From this knowledge and understanding, you may identify emotional and behavioural patterns that you have carried with you through the years. Many of these can be unhelpful, in that they may have worked for you in the past but have ceased doing so now. Looking at the connections between past and present and learning to identify the links between our thoughts, behaviours and emotions can greatly influence change.
Of course, change is not always the whole story. Having worked in a Neurology department for several years with people with epilepsy and other neurological disorders, I saw how acceptance can be as necessary as change, especially when we have a long-term health condition or we experience loss in various ways.
You, as the client are the expert on your own life and the therapist supports you by providing insight and structure to the process. You can see your problems more clearly and look at ways to make the changes you need in order to begin the journey to greater wellbeing.
My own ACT journey began a long while ago having encountered a situation that I couldn’t change. Living in it felt awful. But I had to go through it and look at it clearly. From this place, I could access all sides. Acceptance of the situation enabled change. This empowered me and I was able to use this experience to gain greater clarity and make choices based on who I wanted to be and what I wanted to stand for.
Through ACT you can feel enabled to pause, to identify your values and make choices that serve the life you want to live. It enhances your “psychological flexibility” by facing your experiences head-on.
My training and qualifications
- MSc Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy
- BABCP Accred (2007)
- Diploma Integrative Counselling
- Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher training
- Meditation Teacher Training
- Couples Therapy Training (Juliet Grayson, NAOS, RLT)
- Extensive training in ACT
- Training in Somatic Therapy
- Training in Compassion Focused Therapy
- EMDR Trained (Parts 1- 4)
- Qualified CBT Supervisor
- 12 years NHS experience
- Specialist in Epilepsy
- Specialist in Functional Illness
MY EXPERIENCE
My experience includes:
- Anxiety – Health, Social, Generalised, Body Dysmorphia, Trichotillomania.
- Birth Trauma
- Cancer
- Childhood Sexual Abuse
- Chronic Illness
- Chronic Pain
- Couples Therapy
- Depression
- Divorce
- Epilepsy
- Infertility
- Infidelity
- Marital and Premarital
- Menopause
- Neurological Disorders
- Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD)
- Open Relationships Non-Monogamy
- Peer Relationships
- Relationship Issues
- Self Esteem
- Sexual Abuse
- Stress
- Transgender
- Trauma and PTSD
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Trichotillomania
SUPERVISION
CBT and ACT Therapists
I am qualified as a CBT supervisor offering supervision to trainee and qualified CBT therapists. I also offer ACT supervision having specialist ACT supervision of supervision.
As a supervisor, I provide an encouraging and reflective environment using the SHAPE model of ACT supervision as a means of enhancing the therapist’s ACT skills.
