Cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy (CBH) & Eye Movement Desensitisation & reprocessing (EMDR), are evidence-based psychological approaches for managing thoughts and feelings and their impact on our behaviours.

The focus could be the past, present or future and enables us to challenge and change our beliefs to create healthier emotions and behaviours for the future. 

CBH is an integration of clinical hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy and involves spending time in our imagination working through situations in a holistic way where we are free to practise and experiment with new ways of working in a safe space before heading out to enact them in the real-world environment. 

CBH incorporates mindfulness which allows us to focus on our current experiences without affecting them; recognising, identifying, and exploring how things are by using our full range of senses.

Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR)  was first developed in the spring of 1987 when its founder, Francine Shapiro, was taking a walk in a park. She noticed that some disturbing thoughts she was having disappeared and when she brought them back to mind they seemed less disturbing and less valid than before. 

EMDR helps us to learn from the negative experiences of the past, desensitize present triggers that are inappropriately distressing, and incorporate templates for appropriate future action that allows us to excel individually and within our interpersonal system

It's an evidence-based protocol-driven approach that is easy to work through with guidance from the therapist, and the effects can be rapid. It's been influenced by CBT, NLP, and Hypnotherapy, & works on a physiological level that is rather different from many other talking therapies.  

Shapiro (2001) when we are happy '[w]e are informed by our memories, not controlled by them'

Therapy & coaching with Karen Bartle is conducted in a relaxed state of mind and body. In this state, it allows us to use a variety of therapeutic methods to safely revisit memories e.g., past trigger events and resourceful times, stay present in the current in exploring these events fully, and imagine ourselves in the future with or without the new behaviours in place.  

Karen has the ability to integrate elements of cognitive, behavioural, psychodynamic, and mindfulness-based therapies all within the same session or therapy program and applies whatever is beneficial in achieving the desired outcome.

With CBH & EMDR we can readily oscillate between association and dissociation depending on how connected we want to be to the emotion, to solve a current problem.

At any stage of the process, we can learn to reframe our experiences/events as we would like them to be with the new possibilities and alternative solutions in place for healthier outcomes.

Once we have imagined implementing the new solutions in our imagination, we have this locked in and the pathways created, making it easier for us to readily implement the new behaviours in real-world situations.

Given new solutions need to be practised to become routine behaviours, we are likely to lapse while we get the hang of it, where we may fall back into our old ways of working temporarily, depending on how often we do the behaviours.

CBH & EMDR create a foundation of resourcefulness to be resilient at these times and use effective strategies to bounce back fast to prevent further relapse.

Karen's unique blend of personal coaching/therapy is based on over 2 decades of practice, research & teaching, & incorporates cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), hypnosis, EMDR, mindfulness, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), & coaching.  

Using this special blend of interventions means we can tackle issues faster, more efficiently and effectively by managing things simultaneously on different levels.

CBT & EMDR used together with hypnosis help to make fast and lasting changes by restructuring the way we think, feel, and behave. For example, when someone overeats they do so despite knowing consciously the consequences of doing so and wanting to not do so.

The unconscious has different ideas which are hidden from awareness. The person often cannot understand why they overeat and find it difficult to control. This is because the unconscious desire to eat unhealthily silently pesters despite conscious efforts to stop. Methods of intervening during hypnotherapy help to manage any unconscious triggers contributing to a lack of progress or self-sabotage.

Another example is a smoker who is consciously aware that smoking is harmful and yet finds themselves compelled to smoke.

For many people, conscious knowledge of government health warnings, increasing social unacceptability, the cost, smell, and taste, etc., do not override the powerful unconscious habit. Psycho-hypnotherapy tackles the unconscious desire to smoke.

Karen is an excellent tutor and therapist. She delivers training in an extremely engaging and thoughtful manner making all the materials interesting and accessible. The pace and delivery of the Diploma was well thought out and made learning almost an unconscious process. 

~ Sue Harper