Karen Hopkins
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This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am an integrative psychotherapist and EMDR practitioner working in central London.* Depending on your needs, I work short-term to deal with a specific issue or on an open-ended basis.
Therapy with me is a chance to explore why certain things keep happening in your life, why you are experiencing anxiety, depression or relationship difficulties. Or perhaps, you struggle to understand why childhood experiences still have such a powerful hold on you, and why life isn’t as fulfilling as you would like it to be. We will seek to understand your current issues within the context of your past experiences, relationships and attachments. An understanding of the past is essential, but positive change occurs in the present. The process of therapy can help you to develop more self-awareness and increase your capacity for self-reliance, enabling you to develop your potential in your own way.
I have a particular interest in understanding trauma through the perspective of early attachment. I take the view that therapy needs to be tailored to each individual client, and that recovery is not about changing who we are, but about finding the person we were supposed to be before the trauma. I focus on finding healthy coping strategies and resources. Once safety and stability has been achieved, we will work to process the trauma if appropriate.
Traumatic experiences happen to many of us. The effects can be both physical and psychological. The impact of a trauma can be long lasting often staying with us long after the experience or event.
Some of the most common effects of untreated trauma include:
- Flashbacks or disturbing images
- Avoiding places or situations
- Feeling constantly on high alert
- Numb or intense emotions
- Fear, anxiety and panic attacks
- Guilt, depression and shame
- Nightmares and disturbing dreams
- Difficulties maintaining close relationships
Eye Movement Desensitisationand Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a comprehensive trauma therapy that helps people to recover from traumatic and other distressing experiences. EMDR therapy helps the brain to process distressing memories and allows normal healing to resume. EMDR uses a three-pronged approach; by healing EMDR uses a three-pronged approach; by healing past disturbances, we change the present and alter the future, freeing you to create the life you would like moving forward.
EMDR treats Complex Trauma and PTSD, single traumatic events, attachment traumas and distressing life events. Single event traumas are one-off events such as a serious accident, a personal assault or mugging. Attachment trauma is the psychological wounds received at the hands of our caregivers or significant others. This does not need to be explicit physical or sexual abuse, and can also be the result of secondary trauma due to traumatic things you have witnessed.
Attachment Informed EMDR
Attachment informed EMDR (AI-EMDR) is a variant of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) which adapts the standard EMDR model to help with current psychological problems which may have their origins in traumatic events experienced in early childhood.
EMDR had expanded beyond trauma and is often used to help clients access new perspectives, improve self-esteem and to shift and expand rigid belief systems.
The first session
The initial session is a chance for us to meet and explore what is bringing you to therapy. Think of it like a check-in where I will ask lots of question to get a sense of you and for you to get a sense of me. If we decide to work together, sessions are 50 minutes long, and we will meet weekly.
For the foreseeable future sessions will be held online using Zoom or BilateralBase*.
Training, qualifications & experience
I completed 8 years of psychotherapy training at WPF and Minster Centre. I hold an MA, Advanced Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy. I am a member of EMDR UK, UKCP and BACP and abide by their codes of ethics.
My approach is trauma-informed and I have completed additional specialist trainings in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Attachment-Informed EMDR (AI-EMDR) and Somatic Trauma Therapy.
I worked as a psychotherapist within the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust for several years, where I saw people with moderate to severe mental health and psychological problems including anxiety and depression, childhood neglect, childhood sexual abuse, trauma and dissociative disorders. I have worked extensively with people diagnosed with conditions related to complex trauma.
Outside of my private practice, I work as a psychotherapist at Nightingale hospital.
Member organisations
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I work with communication, relationship, sex or intimacy issues. It might be that your sex life or relationships have been impacted by difficult childhood experiences or by previous sexual trauma. I have completed specialist training in relationship therapy, trauma and EMDR and can support you in processing difficult memories and help you to develop greater sexual self-esteem and better relationships.
Perhaps, you are single and struggling to form a lasting relationship. Therapy can be useful in helping to identify unconscious relationship patterns or intimacy issues. Gaining a better understanding of yourself will allow you over time to develop better more satisfying relationships.
Therapies offered
Fees
£80.00 - £110.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I am a recognised Private Practitioner with the following insurers: Aetna (AGB), Aviva, AXA Health, Cigna Health Insurance.
