Iffat Shafiuddin

Vagus Nerve Self-Regulation Live Group Online Course 

starting June 2025 £600 2 hours for 6 weeks

I am a neurodiverse counsellor and qualified in 1997. In addition I am an Accredited member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

You can find me on the BACP register and I am insured. I hold a certificate in Applied Polyvagal Theory in Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery (30 hours) 2022 and am also a Yoga Teacher.

I have worked within various roles within Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND), in Education (Further Education College and Schools, both Primary and Secondary), with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Place2Be (Improving Children’s Mental Health in Schools), Your Healthcare (working with children with Autism) within Domestic Violence projects (Women’s Aid) and Cruse Bereavement Care.

I have been counselling both adults and children for over 15 years and have gained specialist experience and expertise in neurodivergence.

Specialisms include:

• ADHD

• Autism Spectrum Condition

• Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

• Anxiety

• Trauma

• Identity

You can listen to my guest appearances on Spotify ADHD podcasts and read my contributions to articles related to ADHD in iNews and on ADHD Online

Vagus Nerve Self-Regulation Live Group Online Course starting June 2025 £600 2 hours for 6 weeks

• Begins Sunday 1st June till 6th July 2025 10am-12pm on Zoom

• Immerse yourself in learning how to self-regulate via co-regulation in a safe nurturing environment

• Learn to understand and re-set your autonomic nervous system via little but effective shifts in emotional state leading towards self-regulation

• In these sessions you will be guided towards understanding how YOUR individual nervous system responds to triggers but also can feel grounded and present via social engagement 

• This course will be particularly helpful to those who feel intensely and whose emotional responses may be disproportionate to the event they are reacting to

• The course will involve understanding how our nervous system responds under threat using the Polyvagal Theory* and how we can re-tune, re-set and continually return to a place of grounded safety within ourselves; the self-regulation of emotions

• Six 2 hour sessions whereby as a group I will guide you through understanding the Vagus Nerve using the Polyvagal Theory, chunked down into sections including exercises for you to complete in session under my lead, as well as exercises for you to take away and continue to complete upon completion of the course for ongoing self-development

• Your learning will be SPECIFIC TO YOU and not at all generic in anyway

•Live interactive questions and opportunities for discussion surrounding emotion regulation 

• The sessions will be recorded and available to you at your convenience

• Techniques for self-regulation involving the Vagus Nerve self-stimulation will be taught and relaxation audio available to you

The Polyvagal Theory – The Vagus Nerve – (Stephen Porges:2011) explains how to understand our nervous system preventing our brains from becoming consumed by intense overwhelming feelings. The aim is to self-regulate via co-regulation, for example, in this forthcoming group.

Vagus Nerve Self-Regulation Live Group Online Course starting May 2025 £600 2 hours for 6 weeks (under trainer listing) 

I am a Neurodivergent Therapist and my therapeutic work is client-centred incorporating Polyvagal Theory* (understanding and befriending our internal surveillance system which searches for cues of social engagement, connection and safety and cues of threat, danger and disconnection. This can lead to appreciating and managing our emotions by self-regulating via co-regulation thus preventing the brain from being consumed by intense overwhelming feelings). 

I also offer counselling with yoga for those who experience restlessness, anxiety and stress and may believe counselling or yoga is not for them.

I hold over 10 years of counselling experience with adults and children.

I hold specialist experience and expertise within:

Autism Spectrum Condition,

Pathological Demand Avoidance,

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Condition and

Trauma

I have worked within:

Education

The NSPCC

Place2Be (Improving Children's Mental Health in Schools)

Your Healthcare

Women's Aid

Cruse Bereavement Care

Having worked with people of all ages in these settings my work with professionals and young adults took a positive turn towards somatic embodiment practices of connecting the mind with the body and slowing down the pace within oneself to reduce stress and anxiety, and raise self-esteem and confidence. This is by incorporating yoga into counselling.

I have 3 ways of working:

1. Online Counselling via Zoom

2. Counselling with yoga in-person (in Richmond, Kingston upon Thames & South West London)

You don’t have to relive trauma to heal because “The Body Keeps the Score”.** Healing can come from the release experienced in yoga.

3. Online Course 

Fees

1. Online via Zoom

from £100 per session for 50 minutes

2. Counselling with Yoga in-person

from £100 for 60 minutes booked in blocks of 6 (your home/work-place)

3. Online Course

£600 2 hours for 6 weeks May 2025 (see trainer listing) 

* Porges S.W (2011) The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations 

** M.D. Bessel van der Kolk (2015) The Body Keeps the Score

Online counselling

We'd start with an initial phone assessment to:

• explore the reason(s) for you (or your young person) to want counselling

• see the nature of difficulties encountered

• talk through your mental health history

• create a therapeutic plan with best hopes (with direction and built-in flexibility required to adapt to your moment-to-moment needs)

• answer your questions

Counselling with Yoga in-person

We’ll have an in-person assessment to:

• delve into your best hopes

• explore your experience of moving your body dynamically

• talk through your mental and physical health history

• create a yoga therapeutic plan (with direction and built-in flexibility required to adapt to your moment-to-moment needs)

• answer your questions.

...finishing off with yoga.

Whether it’s online or in-person I'll also talk through the process of counselling with or without yoga.

Namely:

I will not pressure you into talking

You can bring issues within your own pace

The process will be centred around your needs (hence the assessment process to identify your needs)

The counselling is confidential.

The only exemption being that if you are a danger to yourself or others in which case, as per BACP Therapeutic Guidelines and Ethical Framework, I would have to step outside of our confidentiality agreement for safety reasons – this will be explained at assessment. This is standard practice and is part of my responsibility to you.

In addition, I work within BACP's Ethical Framework as well as the Yoga Alliance Professionals Code of Practice.

I hold an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) certificate.

Please note I work with adults and young people above 14 years of age.