Integrated Health Practice

Emma Redfern, BACP Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist - Counselling and Emotional Freedom Technique

After a first career in publishing in London and Kent, I married and moved to Devon where I began training as a humanistic counsellor. I aim to meet people where they are in a welcoming and non-judgmental manner so that they can fully engage in the process of being who they are and want to be/become. My approach is integrative and I incorporate ideas, techniques and ways of being from a number of psychotherapeutic approaches. We may work together in the here and now as well as reviewing the impact of the past on the present and future. I am active in the process yet not directive. We will work in partnership as I facilitate your exploring, experiencing and expressing. Every relationship, every person’s therapy, is unique, there is no 'one size fits all'.

Dialogue tends to form a major part of counselling and you will have the opportunity to speak in confidence to an empathic professional. Such self-expression can be helpful in enabling you to find your inner resources, your freedom to choose who to be and how to move forward. Other forms of self-expression are also useful and enjoyable (perhaps even preferable), and I am trained in using sandplay therapy and EFT.

In sandplay therapy you have the freedom to work spontaneously with actual sand and miniatures, in comparative silence. My role is to support your freedom of expression so that an internal therapeutic process can take place in safety with a supportive collaborator alongside you. Sandplay therapy is suitable for all ages and abilities and brings awareness, enables problem-solving, can facilitate change and psychological healing. (See one of the Case Studies.)

We may also incorporate Emotional Freedom Technique into sessions (where appropriate and with full consultation). This is a powerful self-help, self-healing tool involving gently tapping on energy points on the face and body while focussing (verbally or silently) on the issue being worked on in counselling. Just as the counselling process continues to work in between sessions, EFT is something that clients may 'take away with them' and use for themselves between sessions.

As a professional counsellor, I am fully supervised, fully insured and abide by the BACP code of ethics and practices. I am committed to my own personal growth (through continual professional and personal development) and foster an attitude of life-long learning. Part of why I work as a counsellor is because I have personal experience of the efficacy of counselling and psychotherapeutic work.