About Gayle Creasey

 

Counselling & Psychotherapy

My own positive experience of therapy inspired me to train to be a therapist myself. I  struggled to find the words to tell my therapist about the complexity and depth of my feelings. Painting and drawing offered a new language of feeling which opened a door for me.

In 2001, I completed an introductory ‘counselling using the arts’ course with the Place2Be project.  I went on to became a Place2Be volunteer counsellor in a school in East Croydon for a year. 

Between 2003 – 2007, I studied at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education.  Gaining a masters degree with distinction in Integrative Child Psychotherapy. I went on to gain UKCP accreditation in 2009.

I am now an experienced Integrative Child Psychotherapist and I work with children and adolescents with a wide range of needs and difficulties.

My therapeutic work with adults has grown out of my extensive mindfulness work with adults.  When you become more mindful, you often notice areas in our life where you want to understand things more. Or habits of thinking and behaviour which you would like to change.  Mindfulness is not always enough on its own. A combination of mindfulness and counselling or psychotherapy can be very helpful.

Over the years, I have found that an increasing number of people seeking therapy have experienced overwhelming experiences either as children or adults.  In order to support people to work through these experiences, I have completed training and accreditation as an Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) practitioner. 

I have completed both the Externship and Core Skills 1-4 in Emotionally Focused Therapy and am registered with the International Centre for Clinical Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. I work with couples of all age, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.

My individual adult therapy work is shaped by the Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) model of attachment based therapy and I have completed Level 1 training in EFIT with Sue Johnson and Leanne Campbell. 

I attend specialist training courses every year to continue my professional development in both psychotherapy and mindfulness. 

As a registered child psychotherapist with the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists, I abide by the UKCP code of ethics.  I have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring check (DBS) and I am insured for my work.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness has been integral to my personal life since 1998.  In 2011, I completed a mindfulness training with Bangor University and have been offering mindfulness based training to public and private sector organisations and individuals since 2012.

A distinctive aspect of my organisational work is using mindfulness as a technique for deepening self-listening and for cultivating a more compassionate way of relating to oneself.  In my experience, managers in organisations often achieve success through a strong internal drive.       This internal drive can become a harsh inner critic which may undermine confidence and creativity, and ultimately limit potential.   In my view mindfulness and self-compassion are key ingredients for helping ambitious managers to become more supportive of themselves, as well as others, and so create more positive team environments.

Early in 2014, I completed training with the Mindfulness in Schools Project.   I am a certified .b mindfulness and Paws.b teacher of young people aged 7-18 years.  In 2016, I also became a certified teacher of the .b Foundations mindfulness course for teachers and parents.

Also in 2014, I completed training with Kristin Neff, Chris Germer and the Centre for Mindful Self-Compassion to deliver the 8 week Mindful Self-Compassion course.

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