Welcome
I am a Core Process psychotherapist and supervisor working in Clifton, Bristol and Online.
Core Process Psychotherapy
CPP is a mindfulness based form of psychotherapy that integrates awareness of the body with modern integrative approaches to psychotherapy. In sharing and exploring difficulties in therapy, we can also include awareness of feelings in the body. This can help us to deepen into what we’re exploring, including feelings of hurt, vulnerability, and our defences that may hold us back in life. Find out more about Core Process Psychotherapy here.
To book an initial consultation with me, or to ask me a question click here.
You can also contact me at alanmstoddart@gmail.com, 07904019465.
Inner Inquiry
Much of our suffering relates to how we have been shaped by life in childhood, and how we are conditioned by these experiences. My work is therefore informed by psychological theories of childhood in understanding how we have been shaped by our defences. Exploring this can helps us see what may get in the way of a deeper, more meaningful and satisfying way of relating in life.
Through inquiring into suffering, we can become more aware of self limiting beliefs and patterns that restrict us in our lives and relationships. When we slow down we can attune more to ourselves and develop more inner compassion and clarity. Good therapy is supportive of this process in ourselves.
Areas I work with
I work with clients seeking support with various kinds of difficulties. Some of the areas I work with are supporting clients with various forms of harm experienced in childhood, identity issues, relationship difficulties, depression, anxiety, OCD, dissociation (disconnection from feeling), addiction issues to name a few areas.
An Embodied, Relational Approach
With my clients we explore what their intuitive sense of the challenges they face and they need in the sessions. Over time we learn to trust ourselves more in therapy and the wisdom contained in what we feel.
Central to this work is the idea of wholeness, that all our feelings need permission to be seen and felt in our inner experience. Feelings of wounding, sadness and anger carry deep wisdom that we need to integrate but that we have learnt to reject, as we did not feel permission to feel and be with these feelings when we were younger. As part of the work at times I will try to mirror feelings and emotions that a client may struggle to stay in relationship with. Read more about my approach here.
Included in this work can be exploration of what may arise in the relationship between myself as therapist and my clients. Safety and permission are needed for this kind of work, and this can also support deeper exploration, healing and understanding from the therapy.
Experience
I am psychotherapist, supervisor in training and tutor at the Karuna Institute that offers trainings on Relational Mindfulness and Psychotherapy in Bristol. I trained in 2017 at Karuna. During this time I have held a busy practice first in North London and now in Bristol and online. I am accredited with the UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) and ACPP (Association of Core Process Psychotherapists) and am fully insured to practice.
Prior to training as a psychotherapist I worked for fifteen years in Children and Families Social Work. This included holding challenging work in individual and group contexts. I found this work has really supported my work as a therapist in my capacity to hold clients in therapy and experience of working with people with diverse experiences in life.
I receive clinical supervision on all of my work and have two clinical supervisors. I am committed to learning and development in psychotherapy, and also attend two peer supervision groups and a reading group that explores and questions some received wisdom in psychotherapy. Since 2021, I have attended several group work retreats a year that offer me experience in sharing vulnerability and learning about my own unconscious patterns and beliefs through the mirror of community, in service of connecting to deeper inner truth within myself.
To read more about me click here.