Bo Bloomfield

I am a senior accredited Practitioner with twenty-six years unbroken practice working with children, adolescents and adults in education from primary school through to university. I also worked for ten years in the NHS in a staff counselling service and for twenty-three years in private practice. 

I am relationally trained and my fundamental belief is that therapeutic change comes about through the systematic use of the therapeutic relationship. My key task is to create an empowering alliance with the client by communicating the attitudes and skills of the person-centred approach. Following my original training, I trained as an EMDR Therapist having completed the EMDR Europe Standard Accredited Training with the EMDR Academy. I am particularly interested in and have a great deal of experience in working therapeutically with trauma. When working with clients, my intention is to provide an interpersonally focused relationship which both contains and holds the client work as the client’s goals are actively worked towards. By creating a climate of warmth, trust, genuineness and respect, my attention and energy are firmly focused on the collaborative nature of therapeutic relationship since its quality determines overall effectiveness of the work.

EMDR is an approach that can be helpful in working with a wide range of mental health issues and with post-traumatic stress in particular. EMDR can help people to recover from distressing life events and the problems they have caused, for example, flashbacks, upsetting thoughts or images, depression or anxiety. EMDR is recognised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the World Health Organisation (WHO), which also recognises it as an effective treatment for adults and children. 

When using EMDR, there is a preparation stage where I will work the client to prepare for our work together. I use the early sessions of our work together to identify the client’s expectations, to agree a collaborative approach to the work, and to highlight the confidentiality boundaries. This provides an opportunity to agree a contract that stresses the client's autonomy and a shared understanding of the desired outcome goals. My respect for the autonomy of the client is paramount, and the narrative that a client brings – their own personal story – is held at the centre of the work. Through the process of active listening, I invite the client to tell their story, whatever that story might be. 

 In the EMDR processing stage, bilateral stimulation is used to help process disturbing memories, thoughts and feelings. Bilateral stimulation refers to sensory stimuli, such as sounds, tapping, and eye movement, that activate both sides of the brain. This can soothe and calm the client’s nervous system, enhancing the client’s access to positive images, thoughts, emotions and body sensations. During a therapy session, I will instruct the client to use their eyes to follow my fingers, and a client may be instructed to pat their own shoulders or knees with their hands, alternating between their left and right sides while following my pace. Bilateral stimulation can provide a new tool for people to process and recover from traumatic events. Here, the client practices how to regulate their own body and, in this way, can be enabled to gain distance from and change their perspective of the original trauma. Bilateral stimulation in EMDR therapy can help clients alleviate distressing emotional and physiological symptoms. 

The number and length of sessions needed will depend on the type and severity of trauma which has been experienced. 

I work from the premise that supervision is driven by a twofold purpose: to ensure the welfare and safety of the client and to help support and develop the work of the counsellor. I am an experienced supervisor of trainees, qualified counsellors and groups. I have been in practice as a supervisor since 2011. I am a senior accredited counsellor with 26 years unbroken practice with children adolescents and adults in education from Primary School to University. I am an EMDR Therapist. I have worked in the NHS and in private practice. I am relationally-trained and my fundamental belief is that therapeutic change comes about through the systematic use of the therapeutic relationship. My key task is to create an empowering alliance with the client by communicating the attitudes and skills of the person-centred approach. My supervision practice is also relational. By creating a climate of warmth, trust, genuineness and respect, my attention and energy are firmly focused on the supervisory relationship since its quality determines overall effectiveness. A culture of openness to learning and personal re-evaluation goes with the supervisee as they make the journey from trainee to experienced practitioner. Supervision has been central to the development of my own style and way of working. My intention is to provide an interpersonally focused relationship that facilitates the development of therapeutic competence whilst containing and holding the client work in a therapeutic triad. This enables the supervisee to fully attend to client need. By encouraging supervisees to be aware of their internal processes, to monitor emotional responses and experiences within their work, I attempt to increase awareness of who the supervisee may be to the client. I encourage the supervisee to notice what they experience in the relationship and consider if this experience relates to their own unresolved conflicts or if it is their response to the client playing out old patterns of relating.

At the current time I can offer appointments using several online platforms including the telephone and video meetings. Perhaps you would like to have a think about which format feels most suitable for you in terms of engaging in the process.