Dr Beverley Bruce
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This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
I am a compassionate therapist with fifteen years' clinical experience of working with individuals across a range of concerns. I have particular experience in working with anxiety, self-esteem, family and relationship issues, stress-related issues and burnout, bereavement and loss, sleep difficulties, and in supporting clients through personal growth and towards deeper authenticity at any stage of life.
The qualities of kindness, compassion, understanding, acceptance, and insight from others have been a steadying and healing force at difficult times in my own life. These qualities have helped me better connect with and understand myself, my relationships, and the sets of circumstances which life has delivered. Through this I have been able to find wisdom from understanding, the capacity for making positive change, and healthy ways to cope with and integrate that which cannot be changed. These approaches lie at the heart of my therapeutic work, alongside the firm belief that we all have an innate capacity for healing.
Our personal and cultural life experiences and longings - and how we relate to them - are unique and fluid, so my approach is pluralistic and integrative. This means drawing on practices and perspectives from a range of modalities and therapies to create a synthesis of support that respects each person's circumstances and capacity at the time of working together. My therapeutic approach seeks to support the inherent health of our whole being, spanning the mental, emotional, physical, relational and environmental aspects of our experiences, while honouring difference, diversity, and all that makes us unique. I also integrate embodiment and somatic therapy, ecopsychology, and spirituality in pathways to healing for those interested in these perspectives, as well as cognitive behavioural approaches when helpful.
I have further specialist training and experience in supporting people across the stages of the female life cycle, from menarche to menopause, as well as with experiences around fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and infant loss, and health concerns such as endometriosis and PCOS. I also have training and experience in supporting clients living with health conditions such as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and long COVID, autoimmune conditions, fibromyalgia and chronic pain, as well as adults diagnosed with terminal illness and their families.
In addition to my psychotherapy qualifications, I hold a masters degree in social anthropology. This foundation deepened my understanding of culture, society, and the complexities of human behaviour and interaction, stimulating my interest in intercultural work, particularly around our processes of meaning-making and experiences of belonging. Prior to working full-time in psychotherapy, I lived in the Middle East, West Africa and East Asia while working in professional services, later consulting on cross-cultural issues for the Scottish Government. Currently, I am a Clinical Fellow in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Edinburgh, combining clinical management with postgraduate teaching and research supervision on the University's doctorate and masters programmes.
As a Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, I am bound by their Ethical Framework for good practice standards, principles and values in counselling and psychotherapy.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am a fully qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with a Doctorate in Psychotherapy from the University of Edinburgh and an MA(Hons) from the University of St. Andrews.
I have undertaken extensive training and development in psychodynamic, humanistic, and transpersonal theories and approaches in psychotherapy. I am also an experienced somatic therapist, bodyworker, and yoga therapist, and I offer integrative therapeutic approaches incorporating these practices and perspectives when appropriate.
I am committed to professionalism, and regularly attend continuing professional development trainings and events to enhance my therapeutic offerings and to keep up-to-date with the latest research findings.
Member organisations
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.
