Keith Baker

I have availability to see clients on  Wednesdays to Fridays. Between 9.30am and 7pm. At my home in Dursley GL11.

'When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail'

Counselling in it's various forms has some great tools. I use a many of them, principally, somatic, tapping (TFT - Thought Field Therapy) cognitive. While these tools are great, I see them as various forms of great hammers.

After reading the groundbreaking book ‘The Body Keeps the Score’,  I became interested in Neurofeedback, so I looked at the research, tried it myself and was so impressed I did my first professional training in it in 2017.

In essence, every person’s brain has strengths and weaknesses, these are usually related to the balance of the different frequencies that do different jobs, a good balance allows you to work, rest and play. My job is to understand where those balances are off and help train them to be more balanced, helping the person feel and function better.

What is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback is a comprehensive brain training system, that promotes healthy brain function. It started in research settings in the 1950’s and was then further developed for use by health care professionals and researchers to help people with a range of difficulties that originate in the brain. Currently there are over 10,000 peer reviewed studies and meta-studies into the effective use of neurofeedback.

The way these difficulties are seen is not through labels such as OCD, PTSD or ADHD - to name but a few. My job is instead to understand the difficulties the person is presenting with linking the symptoms to the control centers of the brain and devise a training plan to help people train their brains frequencies to better regulate.

Body brain:

The average person has millions of neurons (brain cells) within their body. All those neurons are a key reason why you have physical responses to emotional situations, so it is key to working with the whole person, to work with your body’s neurons as well. I have several therapeutic methods to help you release trauma and tension from your body in a regulating way.

My personal therapeutic journey has been eclectic, and this diversity I have brought to my work as a counsellor and neurofeedback therapist. I have developed skills in person-centered counselling, Focusing, Thought Field Therapy (TFT), therapeutic play, behavioral and cognitive approaches, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, As well as various neurofeedback approaches. This is supported by the understanding and experience of using systemic approaches while I was a social worker.

What this means in practice is I can adapt to you and the way you think and feel, in a variety of way.

I have been qualified as a counsellor for 16 years, and a neurofeedback therapist for 10 years. I came across neurofeedback from reading “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk, and his highly successful experiences of using it in his trauma center in Boston MA. At first I thought neurofeedback was weird and to good to be true, but my research and personal experience proved to me this was an amazing way of working.

How do you know where to start?

To help me understand the difficulties you are having, I use the in-depth questionnaire, alongside a brain mapping process (called a NewQ), this combined with a discussion with you will guide the early treatment training protocols. Neurofeedback is a collaborative process between us that allows me to tailor your neurofeedback training.

Practicalities

I work from, my home in a downstairs office.

There is a parking space on my drive.

Unfortunately I have no disabled access.

As I offer three options for people, so I offer a free 30 minute consultation to understand the challenges you face and to see how I can help most effectively.

Counselling

There is a basic bit of paperwork to do (details and consent form) this can be done either before you come or on the first session whatever you would prefer. 

These will be 1 hour sessions and cost £80.

Counselling with Neurofeedback

There is a bit more form filling as we are training your brain waves, and so I need more information from the beginning. Most people prefer to do the forms prior to the first session. But if you struggle with forms we can do this on the first session, but it will take a bit longer. 

The First session is approximately 2hrs and costs £160. 

Follow-on sessions are an hour and are £80.

Neurofeedback without Counselling

This is the same in term of cost and times as Counselling with Neurofeedback.

The First session is approximately 2hrs and costs £160.

Follow-on sessions are an hour and are £80.