ABOUT THE THERAPIST
Deb Milligan, BA (hons), MAPHP, DHP, MNCH
Clinical Hypnotherapist & Psychotherapist, NLP & EFT Practitioner
Private Practice in Central Beaconsfield
About 15 years ago while volunteering with a weekly singing group for Alzheimer’s sufferers and their families, I saw the remarkable effect that something as simple as singing has for people coping with dementia: the power of positive psychology and the immense potential for treating psychological conditions with therapeutic rather than pharmacological solutions. I realised that what fascinated me most was the subconscious and the whole concept of neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to constantly re-wire and re-learn. As the therapeutic approach most relevant for working with the subconscious is hypnotherapy, I decided to enrol with RBCCH (the Royal Berkshire College of Clinical Hypnotherapy,) to develop a new set of skills to help clients access the subconscious mind and thereby uncover and recover from neuroses or traumas in ways that many forms of counselling and psychotherapy aren’t deep enough to do. I now use the approach of exploring how the powerful subconscious is affecting the conscious experience with all my clients, and am passionate about the difference this approach can make in terms of finding more appropriate positive change much more effectively.
In my private practice based in central Beaconsfield I work with clients with a range of psychological and emotional symptoms, helping them recognise and understand negative behaviours or beliefs, and replace these with more constructive and positive ones.
My primary focus is on helping clients reconnect with their ‘authentic selves’, by reducing anxiety, regaining a sense of control over their lives, understanding their triggers and responses, and finding relief and release from the debilitating effects they have been experiencing as a result of old belief-systems or habits. Many conditions like OCD or eating disorders stem from severe anxiety or ‘threat-detection alerts’ that have become adversely up-regulated and thereby unhelpful. I work with clients to reduce these responses, develop a new awareness of safety, and thereby re-calibrate the ‘threat-detection’ system back to helpful comfortable levels and restore a feeling of calm comfortable control.
As well as individual client consultations I also offer modular bespoke workshops on a diverse range of topics that can all be designed to suit different recipients from schoolchildren to business teams or sports professionals.
For my own continuous professional development I regularly attend diverse courses and workshops run by inspiring and highly experienced psychologists and clinical practitioners reputed as experts in their field. Specific areas of interest have included evidence-based strategies for effective chronic pain management, beneficial hypnotherapy interventions for cancer sufferers, and improved ways to calm anxiety through strengthening the para-sympathetic nervous system. Amongst other professional development courses during the last 5 years I completed the British Psychological Society Master Clinician training for professionals working with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as the NICABM (National Institute for Clinical Application of Behavioural Medicine) Treating Trauma Master Series.
As a member of the professional body APHP (Association of Professional Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy) I am bound by stringent rules, ethics and code of conduct. As a member of UKCHO (UK Confederation of Hypnotherapy Organisations) APHP was instrumental in the introduction of the Core Curriculum for Hypnotherapy Training Schools as well as the latest revisions to the National Occupation Standards for Hypnotherapy, so assures the highest standard of training. I am also a member of a number of accredited professional groups including NRPC (the National Register of Psychotherapists and Counsellors.)
