ABOUT ME

Shirley began her nurse training  in a large psychiatric hospital in Cheshire at the age of 18. She qualified as a Registered Nurse (Mental Health) and continued to work there for many years until moving to Scotland in 1991.

Later, in 2007 whilst studying in the hospice sector as part of a BSc in Nursing Studies , she was encouraged by the improved quality of life complementary therapy could bring to patients receiving palliative care.  With this in mind, she decided to train as an holistic and well being therapist. 

 

Clinical Hypnotherapy was a natural progression from this, and she gained her PgCert in Clinical Hypnotherapy from the prestigious London College of Clinical Hypnosis in collaboration with the University of West London. This was followed by another year in Advanced Practitioner Diploma training. This qualifies her to use Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) techniques for trauma and other conditions where appropriate.  Shirley has studied  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Person Centred Counselling to degree level at university, but is now also qualified in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy.

 

Always wishing to improve her scope of practice, and with a life time interest in mental health, she then embarked on a three year intensive teacher training pathway with the Mindfulness Association. Shirley is now trained to teach the Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) and is on the UK Register of Mindfulness Teachers.

 

Shirley is currently developing and researching a groundbreaking new mindfulness-based intervention within a hypnotic context - Mindful Hypnotherapy. This is based on the work of Gary Elkins & Nicholas Olendzi (2019). Dr. Elkins considerable expertise in hypnotherapy, and Dr. Olendzki’s knowledge in the field of mindfulness are combining the strengths of the two interventions into a single therapy that is still in its infancy, but is showing extremely positive results so far.

 

With Shirley’s extensive knowledge in both fields, she is currently introducing her own pilot studies, and incorporating into her own therapy practice.