Sarah Burgin is a Dramatherapist (HCPC) and a Systemic Family Practitioner who has practised extensively in the NHS and Social Care in both CAMHs and Family Services.
Sarah offers both family and individual work with children and adults. She has found that increasingly she enjoys working with families, supporting them to find ways of communicating with each other when old patterns become stuck or difficult.
She greatly enjoys giving people space to explore their stories and to make sense of the past and present so that they can move on into the future.
Sarah draws on her background of Dramatherapy: using story, metaphor, role and play help co-create narratives of self, identity and family. The aim is simply to arrive at acceptance and greater understanding of our relationships with ourselves and each other.
Sarah has had additional training in DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) and EMDR (Eye Movement and De-sensitisation Reprocessing) and her work is informed by these and a wider trauma-informed understanding.
Her practise recognises that building trust in relationships can take time and that our creativity is a safe yet powerful way for us to find these connections.
A Typical Dyadic Development Informed Psychotherapy Session:
The aim of a DDP informed session is to strengthen attachment bonds between parent and child particularly in cases where early development has been complex.
The Therapist will work with parents initially to explore ways of relating to the child/young person with Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy.
The Therapist will pay particular attention to supporting parents to explore their own experience of being parented, their attachment styles and journey into parenthood and how this relates to their own child.
This will often include story, image making or metaphor, however there is no set way of communicating. The therapist plays special attention to attuning to the needs of the parents with curiosity and empathy.
When a child/young person joins the parents in the session, parents and therapist work together, to give space to the child/ young person so that they can experience being supported and heard as they explore their own stories.
A Typical Eye Movement and De-sensitisation Reprocessing:
EMDR is a form of psychotherapy which has shown to be effective for people who have emotional distress as a result of disturbing life experiences. A typical EMDR session might include some time establishing a relationship and a sense of safety as the therapist enables the child/adult to access their strengths and resources.
The Therapist follows a protocol which includes a series of questions which support the child/adult to visualise a memory or event that they wish to process, whilst the Therapist introduces bilateral stimulation (either by eye movements following hand movements of the therapist, or use of tapping).
At the end of a session, the adult/child develops a different emotional response to the memory.
