That’s a wrap!

Welcome to episode 31 of the Therapy Explained podcast. My guest today is Dr Art O’ Malley. Art has practiced as a medical doctor since 1990 and as a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist from 2004 until 2015 for the NHS. He is currently Head of Clinical Services with The Ely Centre based at offices in Enniskillen and Markethill in Northern Ireland.

Art speaks to me about Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR, which integrates two well-established therapeutic approaches Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR. Art is particularly interested in the importance of being aware of how trauma is stored in the body and the necessity to take a body-based approach to address this.

Art has recently completed a two-day workshop on Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR which will be available online soon. To find out more visit www.artomalley.com.

Welcome to episode 30 of the Therapy Explained podcast. I am delighted to be joined by Dr. Melanie Lee and Bridger Falkenstien. This is a return to the show for Mel whom I spoke with in episode 14 about Cognitive Analytic Therapy and a first appearance for Bridger although he is well accustomed to the world of podcasting with his own podcasts, the Notice That podcast and the Evidence-Based Therapist podcast, both of which I am a big fan of.

Mel and Bridger are here to speak about Somatic Integration and Processing, a conceptual model developed to help clinicians have a deeper understanding of working with clients.

SIP is grounded in attachment and neurodevelopment, Adaptive Information Processing and Polyvagal Theory all of which are covered today. There is a lot to unpack with SIP so if you want to find out more there are free taster webinars for all therapists, psychologists, case managers, health professionals, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and medics.

The first is on Wednesday 15th June at 7pm (UK time) and is called “Working Somatically in Psychotherapy” with another one on Wednesday 13th July at 7pm (UK time), called “Multiplicity of Self in Psychotherapy”.

To register interest in the free webinars, please email [email protected]

Further full-day online training will take place on 1st October 2022: “Introduction to Somatic Integration Processing: how to unleash your inner therapy ninja!”.

Welcome back to a new episode of the Therapy Explained podcast. This week I am joined by Rob Ó Cobhthaigh, the co-founder of Inwardbound. Inwardbound offers psilocybin retreat programmes in the Netherlands, with pre-screening and integration processes supported by their team of facilitators.

As part of our talk, Rob explains what psilocybin is and the recent resurgence in its use therapeutically, particularly in light of growing research supporting its benefits. Rob speaks about how safe it is as a substance but also the risks that do come with it as well as who it may not be recommended for. Although different for everything, Rob gives an overview of what a typical experience is like and how to best prepare for it.

Welcome to episode 28 of the Therapy Explained podcast. Today we head across the pond to speak with Dr Ronald Frederick, a clinical psychologist and senior faculty member of the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Institute.

Ron carefully explains what AEDP is and how it came to be. Ron goes puts forwards and unpacks how AEDP is an attachment based, neurobiologically informed, emotion-focused psychotherapy.

We discuss what this means, the importance of the relationship between therapist and client, the bottom-up approach, experiencing emotions in a complete manner, how AEDP relates to memory reconsolidation, unique aspects of AEDP such as metaprocessing and our innate ability to heal.

Hello and welcome back to the Therapy Explained podcast. In today’s episode, I speak with Shaun Mehew about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, otherwise known as ACT. Shaun is a contextual behavioural science specialist with a particular interest in process based therapy. As part of his work, Shaun develops AI informed digital therapy products.

Shaun gives his understanding of what ACT is, the history behind ACT, how it’s held its own in light of the development of CBT, how it works, what relational frame theory is and why it’s fundamental to ACT, the importance of values and living in the moment, tips for making change, and even an ACT demo where I take the client’s seat.

In today’s episode, I speak with Sinead Smyth, a couples’ therapist and Master Trainer in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. Sinead is the Clinical Director of East Bay Relationship Center, California and trains clinicians in the US and Europe in Gottman Method Couples Therapy.

Sinead explains how the Gottman Method Couples Therapy emerged and took shape through four decades of scientific research. As part of this research, consistent patterns were discovered that differentiated happy versus unhappy couples. These included the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the four most significant predictors of breakdowns in relationships.

Sinead also goes through the antidotes to the four horsemen, what types of couples do better in conflict, some differences between men and women in relationships and her golden rule for a successful relationship.

Find out more about Gottman Method Couples Therapy at www.gottman.com

Thanks for joining me on the Therapy Explained podcast. This week is all about compassion as I speak with Dr Georgina Mullen about Compassion-Focused Therapy. Georgina is a clinical psychologist working at the Irish Centre for Compassion Focused Therapy in Dublin.

We speak about the origins of CFT, its roots in neuroscience and attachment theory, the threat, drive and soothing responses and why these are so important in CFT, the prevalence of critical or shame-based parts of us and why CFT can help with these, working with ambivalence towards compassion and how CFT can be integrated with other modalities such as trauma-informed yoga.

Thanks for joining me on episode 24 of the podcast, where I speak with Dr Ben Sessa. Ben is a consultant psychiatrist, psychedelic therapist and chief medical officer at Awakn Life Sciences, the UK’s first on-the-high-street provider of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Awakn is researching, developing and delivering evidence-based psychedelic medicine to treat addiction and other mental health conditions.

In today’s episode, Ben talks to me about Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, otherwise known as KAP. We talk about the emergence of KAP and how it differs from ketamine infusion therapy, how someone trains to be a psychedelic therapist, ketamine and psychological flexibility, how safe ketamine is, how patients describe their experience of taking ketamine and what the future holds for KAP.

Welcome to episode 23 of the Therapy Explained podcast. Today I am joined by Dr David Lee, a psychologist, scientist and clinical director for Sleep Unlimited. David specialises in treating insomnia with cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), considered the gold standard for treatment for insomnia.

We cover the history of CBT-I, the science behind sleep and how this guides the treatment in CBT-I, leading causes and maintaining factors of insomnia, how modern technology hinders sleep quality and some of the main techniques used in CBT-I.