Joanne Aldred

Please note: My waiting list for new clients is now open.

• Limited spaces remain for EMDR Intensives in 2025.

You may be questioning whether therapy can help relieve your distress, help you commit to life transitions or improve your overall mental wellbeing? Counselling can help with those issues and more.

Therapy is more than talking, it’s a relationship. You may have experience of ‘toxic’ or unhealthy relationships with others – or yourself. Which is why being met in a genuine relationship is the fundamental part of psychotherapy success. Accepting you for who you are, right now, invites a realness and confidence to explore the parts of you that you might have felt the need to reject.

You will increase your self-awareness with an understanding of your story and how you came to be you. Releasing the fear of expressing yourself or of hiding the aspects of you that cause pain or shame. Finding your voice within therapy so that you can use it in the wider world – in personal & professional relationships by asking for what you want & need in life.

I’ll help you cultivate curiosity around the potential that you hold. By being your authentic self and permitting your vulnerability to exist in the world, you’ll be able to confront life events & challenges in a way you might have never thought possible.

I'm Jo & I'm a Humanistic & EMDR therapist, meaning my specialism is the human experience.

I am informed by humanistic philosophy, Gestalt, EMDR/neuropsychology, and person-centred theory. I believe every person has worth, the right to autonomy (to decide their own future) and that a person should feel safe and secure in order to explore their sense of self. If a person is provided with the right conditions for growth, they'll always move towards change. I find the humanistic approach fits well with my own personal morals and values of integrity, honesty and empathy.

I'm also an EMDR practitioner. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing therapy and is a protocol driven therapy for working with single incident trauma, PTSD, C-PTSD & GAD (including OCD). It's a unique approach to accessing traumatic memories or beliefs about the self - by using eye stimulation (or bilateral stimulation such as alternating tones through headphones or handheld buzzers) it stimulates the memory/belief and then facilitates it becoming reprocessed and integrated in a healthier way.  EMDR is an immersive and intense therapy, in terms of processing memories, thoughts, feelings and sensations than talking therapy which is one reason it's in both World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines.

• Currently, I have some remaining space in 2025 for EMDR Intensives/Intensive therapy. 
• You can find out more about EMDR on my linked website: www.emdrtherapybrighton.co.uk.

I offer a free initial consultation in order to understand what has prompted you to reach out - the call/zoom meeting provides an opportunity to introduce ourselves to each other ahead of booking any sessions.

I look forward to speaking with you. A warm welcome awaits.

*If you're a clinician looking for supervision, please view my corresponding profile on Counselling Directory.*

Therapy - In person or Online

• £75 per individual session (50 minutes in duration)

EMDR Therapy - In person or Online

• £125 for the Initial Assessment session (90 minutes)
• £75 ongoing EMDR sessions (60 minutes)

SATURDAY ONLY Morning clinic for psychotherapy & EMDR

• £120 (60 minutes)

EMDR Intensives

• £95 (90 minutes) History taking, assessment and preparation
• £1500 (two days), which incorporates 6 hours of EMDR focussed therapy and 3 hours of intensive psychotherapy (9 hours total). 

Monday to Friday - 8am to 6pm (clinical and non-clinical hours)

Saturdays - 9am to 12pm

• For EMDR intensives, Saturday & Sunday - 9am to 3.30pm

EMDR Intensives / Intensive Therapy - 2 Days

EMDR Intensives are focussed sessions condensed into a shorter period of time, so there’s fewer distractions from work or life, and so you can be completely immersed in the therapeutic process. Many therapy models have this type of intensive approach as part of their theory: Transactional Analysis has ‘Group marathons’, Person-centred has ‘Encounter groups’, and for the Gestaltists, there’s the ‘Personal Development or Experiential Group’. All have consecutive hours or days of therapy. EMDR therapy has ‘Intensives’.

Existing and emerging research from Holland and the US consistently demonstrate that this approach to EMDR has solid outcomes, with longitudinal follow ups at 6 and 12 months post intensive showing symptom change at the initial intensive have remained* (Bongaerts, H. et al, 2020). 

The EMDR Intensives I offer include 2 history taking and treatment planning sessions (90 minutes each) followed by 2 consecutive days of EMDR focussed or intensive therapy (4.5 hours each day, 9 hours total). Rather than having 12 sessions over a 12 week period, we schedule the equivalent over a 2 week period. It means there are fewer distractions, more focus.

An analogy would be the difference between having a hearty meal or grazing at a buffet. Both leave us with a different satiation point and quench our hunger - and one takes less time.

Intensives can take place in my office, in-person, or we can work online via Bilateral Base. So EMDR Intensives work around you and your availability.

• If you’re curious about EMDR Intensives then please contact me to discuss further or you can find details at emdrtherapybrighton.co.uk

Reference:

Bongaerts, H., Van Minnen, A., de Jongh, A. ( 2020) Intensive EMDR to treat patients with Complex Post traumatic Stress Disorder: A case Series. Journal of EMDR practice and Research Vol 11 Issue 2