Jennifer Wickens

We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
– Epictetus

My aim is to support you to find ways to respond to life situations that make life better for you.

Areas of Special Interest

• Trauma
• Anxiety and Depression
• Parenting Support and Coaching
• Stress
• Grief
• Chronic pain

Counselling/Therapy Services

Counselling can be effective for people who are facing difficult life events, either from their past, or in their present life, or for people who just want to understand themselves better. From my experience counselling is a process that is more likely to be successful, when there is a shared understanding of the issue, an agreement on what you want to be different in your life, and the practice of skills that will help you to get there. When I meet with you, the first part of this process is to gain an understanding of the difficulty. When you are sure I understand the problem, we then define some goals to work on which helps to give a focus for future sessions. From there, we work in partnership to reach your goals by building up your knowledge of what might be behind the issue and develop skills to address this.

Counselling/Therapy Approach

My approach to counselling is based on an understanding of trauma. Trauma experiences are a fact of life, however, this does not need to be a life sentence (Peter Levine, developer of Somatic Experiencing). When a trauma experience is not fully processed, the trauma energy gets stored in the body and over time we can lose connection to ourselves, our environment and to each other. Trauma can be from a life-threatening shock event, for example car accident, an unexpected fall, loss of a loved one.  Trauma can also develop from when we are young, and we witness things we shouldn’t, or do not get the things we should, to make us feel safe, seen and understood.  This type of trauma is called developmental trauma.

To work with the trauma experience, I use Somatic Experiencing® (SE). In SE sessions, you will be encouraged to notice your bodies physical sensations.  Becoming aware of our physical sensations without feeling overwhelmed, creates a space for our bodies to reconnect with our innate healing response. This naturalistic process can resolve symptoms by gently discharging the high levels of nervous system energy associated with trauma and enable our bodies to return to a more manageable level of functioning.  During this work, I will use Stephan Porges Polyvagal Theory to help understand how our nervous system is working to protect us.  Through increasing our awareness of how our nervous system is reacting, we can learn to improve our nervous system regulation and increase our resilience to cope with life’s experiences.    

In addition to SE, depending on what may be occurring in the body, I may also suggest using EMDR, or Neuro-affective touch. To supplement these interventions, I may recommend the work to be supported with a listening therapy called the “Safe and Sound Protocol”.  This listening therapy has been developed by Stephen Porges and works in with all the above body methods of addressing trauma. To work with the full body/mind connection, I also will interweave therapy ideas from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Background and Experience

I have over 25 years experience working in the Mental Health Sector with a wide range of mental health difficulties, (including, developmental, psychological and neurological difficulties) experienced by children, adolescents and adults. My focus of interventions with this client group has included individual work with the person, and/or parent coaching.