Hannah Duncan

I currently have extremely limited availability for individuals, couples, corporates and supervisees. I work mostly on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 8am to 8pm. At times I hold a waiting list.

I may open up spaces on Wednesday 2 and 3pm for shorter-term work and/or walking/talking therapy.

I am an experienced pair of hands with 20 years of experience as a therapist. I am "hands on" and uses a mixture of psychoeducation, psychodynamic theory, trauma-informed practice and psychology as well as an honest and involved approach to listening to what is bringing you here. I have been described as "not wishy-washy". I like my relationships to have permission to be exploratory for both. I like to "pinch the nettle" and don't sit on my hands - whilst  always seeking to work within the boundaries of safe clinical practice and within the BACP's ethical framework. I have recently undertaken a Certificate in Embodied Practice which I believe is further enhancing what I can offer my clients/supervisees and couples.

I tend to use aspects of psychoeducation in my work and ask for clients to commit to be involved in their own process of change - as what is the point of therapy without things becoming different, or changing ourselves? This means the therapy room can be a dynamic and sometimes even challenging place. 

I tend to take some baseline measures when I begin working with clients: this might be depression/anxiety scores, or looking for levels of trauma symptoms which we then compare at a later date to see how you are getting on.

Sometimes the work goes "top down" - head down to body/somatic experience, for those who tend to think their way through things. I might use more models or aspects of CBT in this work - or there might be a more verbal narrative to start with. Other clients tend to need something more "bottom up", if they are able to feel things in their body more readily, but the intellectual understanding of what is being processed takes a little longer. We might do some Emotional Freedom Technique, Visualisations or breathing. We might work with images, dreams or just focus deeply on the body and where the stories are locked. Most clients present to therapy ultimately because there is some Trauma that remains unresolved (and the subsequent difficult behaviours that have evolved over time to protect this traumatised part). The therapy therefore HAS to be consensual and directed by the client and totally with their own power and control. We might take a while to work with really difficult material - I guess the pace has to be set first by a feeling of safety - because marrying a feeling of safety intellectually with a sense of somatic safety is what makes the most difference in my view. The other ingredient that feels central to the work is the relationship itself that we build together and it feeling like a practical but earned place of trust.

A first session is important for us both in order to find if we are a good fit for each other and this is the main goal of Session One. I don't always work with everyone I meet and may refer if I feel someone else might be a better person for the work. If we both decide there is a good match, we scope out what work we would like to look at, what you would like to change of yourself/your situation with a successful outcome in therapy. I might also set up some initial assessment tools for me to take a snapshot as we start of what main issues are problematic for you. The first session tends to be about "describing the jars" without "opening the lids and letting the unsafe contents out" if this analogy works for you. Your control of your story and the meaning-making of how you carry this story itself is important.

At times I have a waiting list, especially for evening spaces or couples work, but things can move quickly, so it is often worth contacting me to see what my availability is. I work on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday morning for Couples work.

Good therapy is about change: changing reactions, behaviours, a difficult aspect of self, challenging attitudes/beliefs about yourself or your story. I love working with clients who are prepared to jump in, take risks and seek solutions - this is the way to ensure real change. I will jump in and risk too. I value being human and involved in the therapy and am also practically minded and view the best wisdom as something that can directly be applied to life. A supervisee recently described me as "real, relational, ordinary, practical and not floaty/wispy". I like to incorporate psychoeducation and relevant theoretical information.

I believe strongly that good therapy is all about the relationship between the therapist and the client: its a unique thing and personal to each of us. I aim to be entirely human and don't believe in "us" and "them" - you will be where you are now because of all the myriad of things that have happened to you. I love to work closely to piece things together.

I have 16 years experience working with a broad range of Compulsivity/Addiction issues, working for two agencies in Bristol. I do a lot of supervision work. I work with Anxiety, Relationship issues, Self-harm and Depression. I specialise in working with Trauma and PTSD, as well as working with relational/sexual issues and Couples. 

I have limited spaces in Bristol. I am more likely to have online spaces and face to face from my home in Devon.

My first session is for us to establish if there is scope for working together: we need to both feel comfortable with each other. For me this is about making sure that I feel I have sufficient experience, tools and understanding to be useful. For you, this might look like just noticing if you feel safe with me - if you feel I am understanding and if you feel that I am going to offer you something of both challenge and compassion - both bits feel really important for me.

We would also cover any contracting and boundaries in the first session, to keep things safe and to make sure we both understand what we would be committing to.