Hania Maclagan

I work mainly during school term time

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach designed for working with distressing or traumatic memories. The theory behind EMDR is that many psychological difficulties are the result of distressing life experiences which have not been stored in memory properly and are said to be unprocessed or blocked. These traumatic memories may need some help to become processed, and EMDR is one way to do this.

EMDR sessions are sometimes slightly longer than typical therapy sessions (up to 90 minutes). The number of sessions needed will depend on the type and severity of trauma which you experienced. NICE estimate that 8-12 sessions may be necessary to treat simpler traumas, with more sessions necessary for multiple traumas.

Normal memories are stored by a part of the brain called the hippocampus.

You can think of the hippocampus as a sort of librarian which catalogues (processes) events and stores them in the right place. However, some traumatic events (such as accidents, abuse, disasters, or violence) are so overwhelming that the hippocampus doesn’t do its job properly. When this happens memories are stored in their raw, unprocessed, form. These trauma memories are easily triggered, leading them to replay and cause distress over and again.

There are a number of steps to EMDR treatment, but some of the key stages are to:

 preparation

• Think of a troubling memory, then identify an image of the worst moment of that memory

• Identify a negative belief about that worst moment (the therapist may ask “what is the worst thing that moment says about you?”)

• Identify emotions and bodily feelings linked to that moment

 Processing phase

• Think about the image & belief while at the same time making left-to-right eye movements (or while paying attention to tapping sensations or sounds that are alternately given from left-to-right)

• To allow your mind to ‘go with’ whatever comes up and just notice what happens

• This process will be repeated until the memory causes less distress (this may happen in one session, or may take more than one session)

The first session is a chance for us to begin to build a relationship and to find out whether we are a good 'fit' for work together.  We will talk about your reason for seeking EMDR therapy and will begin to take some history together. 

I will talk you through what to expect during therapy and you can let me know your hopes for the work. The first session is very much part of the therapy and we may talk in detail about some life events and life history. 

I work during school term time only

Psychodynamic practice: I offer individual child, and family counselling and psychotherapy, and individual adult therapy. With children and families, this can take the form of an initial assessment session with parents followed by individual sessions with the child; individual child sessions combined with separate parent sessions; whole family sessions or any combination that we agree is useful. With adults we agree a working contract of how frequently we meet and build in regular reviews to track progress.

With children and young people, I use play and art materials as a way of communicating and accessing emotions and narratives that are difficult to put into words. Making a good connection with young people is very important, and I ensure that the work is lead by them, and progresses in a way that is attuned to their developmental stage. I am able to provide information and support to parents and carers about issues the child and family may be experiencing, as well as strategies and techniques to manage emotions and behaviour.

With adults, I try to make connections between past events and relationships, and current difficulties. Through exploring the dynamic connection between early life events and current behaviour patterns, some relief and understanding of painful feelings can be found, and behaviour patterns can change.

Work is confidential, with both adult and child clients,  meaning that I do not share information unless agreed by the client. However, as I work within Child Protection and Safeguarding frameworks, there are exceptions to this; for example if I become aware that a child may be in danger. Confidentiality will be explained in full in our initial meeting. I am happy to liaise with other professionals, such as schools, social workers or health professionals if it is agreed by the client and deemed helpful.

I am supervised regularly by a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist for my work with both children and families and adults,  with whom I have been working for a number of years.  This is to ensure that I maintain ethical standards and that I give the highest standard of service to my clients. I have significant post-qualifying experience and have had my professional ethos and commitment to ethical principles assessed (MBACP accred). I have supervision with an EMDR consultant for this work.

I have worked in statutory services, working clinically in various Social Services departments including Leaving Care and Fostering and Adoption. I also work within schools, providing individual child and family counselling, as well as acting in a consultative role to teachers and staff, and providing training and supervision to staff. I have also worked within the fields of homelessness and substance misuse.I have experience of working with adults, children and families from a variety of ethnic and social backgrounds, and I am committed to maintaining principles of equality and diversity within my work.

Online therapy is possible if we decide this is the best way forward.

Our first session is a chance for us both to find out whether we are a good 'fit' for working together. 

With children and young people, especially younger ones, I usually start with an initial meeting with a parent or carer. We can decide in our initial phone conversation whether the child should also be present. This meeting is to help me find out a bit more about what brings the family to therapy, and whether I might be of support. It is also a chance to discuss confidentiality and safeguarding, with plenty of opportunities to ask me questions. After this, we can make a 'working agreement' together, which is both of our commitment to how we will work together going forwards.

For individual adult clients the process is similar; the first session is a time for us to explore what brings you to therapy and what your hopes and expectations might be, and for me to go into a bit more detail about how I work and what your hopes are. We then make a 'working agreement' that covers frequency and duration of sessions, payment and missed sessions. Again, there is plenty of opportunity to ask me questions throughout this process. 

 school term-time only

I supervise professionals working with children and young people.

I work psychodynamically and using reflective practice to help supervisees think about unconscious processes, organisational dynamics, safeguarding, best practice and ideas and strategies. I work with individuals practising therapy who would like a psychodynamic viewpoint; with school staff who are working therapeutically or have a therapeutic element to their work; with therapists in honorary or voluntary placements; with students undertaking  psychodynamic therapy training. 

With 8+ years therapeutic experience in schools,  I am well placed to supervise therapists who work in this challenging environment. I am Assistant Clinical Manager at the Bridge in Schools in Bristol,  supervising other Child Therapists in my team who are working in schools. I am a Child Therapist within a school myself, very aware of the difficulties and stresses the role can bring. I have worked in Social Care and the NHS as a therapist, and can bring my knowledge of working in statutory and healthcare settings to my supervision practice. I run a diploma course on working with children and young people in educational settings. Supervision with me can be a place to bring individual cases for consideration, where we can think about the psychodynamic processes at play, and generate ideas together. It is also a place to consider the impact of the environment the work takes place in, and what organisational dynamics might be at play. The session can also be place to think more broadly about the organisation you work in, and what impact this has on your therapeutic work. It can be a place to bring specific safeguarding issues to be thought about, with the shared understanding that safeguarding procedures within your place of work will need to be adhered to.If you are a studying to be a psychodynamic therapist working with children and young people, I can offer supervision for your placement that can link the theory with your practice; a containing and safe space to explore the challenges of beginning this kind of training and work, and an active thinking space where we can build on ideas together. The supervisory relationship is an opportunity to make use of a psychodynamically trained mind to work through issues together. I consider the relationship between myself and my supervisee as an important and exciting space to generate and hone psychodynamic practice, provide containment and professional boundaries, and link theory to practice. 

What you bring to supervision is up to you. It may be an organisational issue, a piece of individual work or thinking more broadly about a number of issues. 

In our first session,  I will go through issues around confidentiality, safeguarding time and payment, and between us we can then make a working agreement. This will outline what we have discussed, the frequency of meetings, how to pay, missed sessions etc. 

This will be a space for you to ask me questions and to find out whether we are the right 'fit' for working together.