Vanessa Bear, Psychotherapist in Kendal

Professional Qualifications and Registrations

Professional Registrations

• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) – Registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist

• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) – Registered Adult Psychotherapeutic Counsellor

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) – Member

Psychotherapy and Counselling Qualifications

• MSc Integrative Psychotherapy (Distinction) – Northern Guild of Psychotherapy / Newman University

• Diploma in Child Psychotherapy – Northern Guild of Psychotherapy

• Postgraduate Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Studies (Distinction) – Northern Guild of Psychotherapy / Newman University

• Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling with Children and Adolescents – Northern Guild of Psychotherapy

• Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling with Adults – Northern Guild of Psychotherapy

Other Professional Qualifications

• PGCE Primary Education – University of Cumbria

• BA (Hons) Youth and Community Work – Manchester Metropolitan University

• Wellbeing Coach – Raw Horizons (accredited by the Association for Coaching and NHS Personalised Care Institute)

Clinical Supervision Training

• Diploma in Supervision (in progress) – CSTD Bath

Specialist Therapeutic Certifications and Training

Trauma Therapy and EMDR

• Somatic Trauma Therapy Certification – Babette Rothschild

• EMDR Training – Mirabilis Health Institute

• Child and Adolescent EMDR, Levels One and Two – Child Trauma Therapy Centre

• Group Traumatic Episode Protocol with Children (C-GTEP) – Agate Institute / Ana Gómez

• Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II: Complex Trauma (CCTP-II) – Janina Fisher

• Making Trauma Therapy Safe – Babette Rothschild

• Self-Care Toolkit for Psychotherapists – Babette Rothschild

Other Specialist Training

• Eco-Psychotherapy, Systemic Thinking and Imagination in Mental Health – Confer

• Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing® – Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy

• Including and Awakening Hypo-Response – Relational Trauma Therapy / Merete Holm Brantbjerg

• Affect: Experience, Expression and Regulation – The Radix Institute

Publications

8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery Workbook

Vanessa Bear and Babette Rothschild – W. W. Norton, 2023

Drawing on neuroscience and psychotherapy, this workbook offers practical strategies to help people develop resources, feel more in control and support safe recovery from trauma.

Wild & Well-Being Card Deck: 70 Exercises for Nature-Based Self Care

Vanessa Bear – W. W. Norton, 2024

Written and photographed by Vanessa Bear. Each card includes a photograph from nature and a practical activity to support self-awareness, a sense of belonging and connection with nature. The activities draw on yoga, creativity, movement, mindfulness, body awareness and journalling.

Help for the Helper Workbook: Personalize Your Toolkit to Prevent Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma

Vanessa Bear and Babette Rothschild – W. W. Norton, 2026

A practical companion to Help for the Helper, offering helping professionals ways to explore and develop their own approaches to self-care and reducing the risk of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma.

Additional Psychotherapy Training and Workshops Attended

The following is a selection of additional training and CPD undertaken to continue developing my knowledge and practice.

EMDR, Trauma and Embodied Psychotherapy

• EMDR Strategies for Migraine and Fibromyalgia – Clinical Application & Research-Based Strategies - Dr. Zeynep Zat

• Using Group Work in EMDR Therapy with Children & Parents – Ana Gómez

• EMDR Therapy and Chronic Shame in Children with Complex Trauma & Dissociation – Ana Gómez

• Self- and Other-Directed Aggression within the Context of Complex Trauma & Dissociation – Ana Gómez

• The Story-Making Protocols: Co-creating Meaning in EMDR Therapy with Children – Ana Gómez

• The World of Stories & Symbols: The EMDR Sandtray Protocol – Ana Gómez

• Early Emotional Neglect and the Adult Client in Therapy – Kathrin Stauffer

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy from a Distance: Engaging the Body, Creating Presence, and Building Relationship in Online Therapy – Dr Pat Ogden and Dr Bonnie Goldstein

• Bodies, Similar Or Not: The Hidden Nature Of Difference. Exploring Equality & Diversity Through Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy - Valentina Iadeluca

• The Bodyknot Communication Model And Its Role In Body Psychotherapy - Erik Jarlnaes

• Disgust: An Essential Element In Working With Trauma? - Merete Holm Brantbjerg & Kolbjørn Vårdal

• Functional Breathing and the Unconscious Psyche – Jane Clapp and Jennifer Snowden

• Love, Trust, and Trauma: Insights from the Polyvagal Theory – Dr Stephen Porges

• Social Connectedness as a Biological Imperative: Understanding Trauma Through the Lens of the Polyvagal Theory – Dr Stephen Porges

• Oxytocin and the Human Connection – Dr Sue Carter

• The Healing Power of Love: An Oxytocin Hypothesis – Dr Sue Carter

• Putting into Practice the Skills of Establishing Therapeutic Relationships – Dr Lisa Kaley-Isley

• Working with Compulsive Sexual Behaviours – Silva Neves

• Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory – Marlysa Sullivan

• Forgiveness and Bypass in Trauma Healing – Anneke Lucas

• Disrupting Entrenched Patterns, Changing Meaning-Making, Fostering Self-Empowerment and Improving Relationships Through the Lens of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – Bonnie Goldstein

• Using the Gut-Brain Connection to Build Resilience from the Gut Up – Miguel Toribio-Mateas

• Compassion Focused Therapy and Trauma – Paul Gilbert

• When Adversity Turns into Trauma: Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Adverse Childhood Experience – Peter Fonagy

• Movement in Practice – Peter Lovatt

• Embodied Boundaries – Jane Clapp

• From the Other Side Intensive – Linda Kapetanea, Fighting Monkey / Rootless Roots

• Inspire by Fighting Monkey Intensive – Elke Schroeder

• Consent, Contact and Context: What Moving Together Can Teach Us About Healing Relationships – Dr Theo Wildcroft

• Immobility, Helplessness and Loss of Self-Regulation in the Time of COVID-19 – Peter Levine and Bessel van der Kolk

Ecopsychotherapy, Climate Psychology and Social Justice

• Decolonizing Mental Health – Foragers of the Epistemology Pathway – Karen Carberry

• Towards an Eco-Psychotherapy – Mary-Jayne Rust

• Engaging with Climate Change & Eco-Distress – Psychology for a Safe Climate

• Ecopsychology and the Social-Historical Moment – Andy Fisher

• Psychotherapy at the Threshold: On Staying with the Scary Trouble of a Cultural Crisis – Chris Robertson

• Reviving Psychological and Spiritual Agency in the Face of Climate Change – Caroline Hickman, Jo McAndrews, Nick Totton, Roger Duncan, Niki Harré, Robin Shohet, Hetty Einzig, Caroline Frizell, Chris Johnstone, Maggie Turp, Pedro Oliveira, Matthew Painton, Yasmin Kapadia, Fred Ehresmann and Andy Miller

Imagery and Creative Approaches

• Visioning Your Life (Imagework) – Dina Glouberman

• Saying Goodbye, Saying Hello (Imagework) – Dina Glouberman

• Life Metaphor: Where Am I in My Life – and What Is My Next Step? (Imagework) – Dina Glouberman

Movement, Mindfulness, Yoga and Somatic Training

Svastha Yoga Therapy

My Yoga Therapy training has been undertaken with Svastha Yoga:

With Dr Ganesh Mohan:

• Rest, Rejuvenate & Feel Positive

• Foundations of Ayurveda, Nutrition & Lifestyle Management

• Move Well

• Yoga for Depression and Addictions

• Yoga for Stress and Anxiety

• Foundations of Wellbeing & Yoga Therapy

With Dr Günter Niessen:

• Anatomy, Physiology and Sequencing of the Breath, Respiratory and Cardiovascular Disorders

• Functional Approach to Disorders of the Cervical and Thoracic Spine and Upper Limb

• Low Back, Pelvis and Lower Limb

A. G. Mohan and Indra Mohan

• Yogic Mindfulness: The Essence of Yoga

• Yoga Sutras

Nitya Mohan

• Sound for Sound Health

Other Yoga, Mindfulness and Movement Training

• 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training – Yoga Campus (IYN, Yoga Alliance)

• Relax and Renew® Restorative Yoga Teacher Training and Trainer Certification – Judith Hanson Lasater

• Movement for Trauma, Levels 1 and 2 – Jane Clapp

• Transforming Trauma for Young People and Children with Yoga and Mindfulness – Dr Lucy Arnsby-Wilson

• From Simon Says to Self Sovereignty: Empowering People Through Interoception – Donna Farhi

• Children's Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Training – Chrysalis Kids

• Savasana Intensive – Judith Hanson Lasater

• Gentle Is the New Advanced – J. Brown

• Yoga for Spinal Health – Jane Craggs

• Yoga, Food & Body Image Facilitator Training – Eat, Breathe, Thrive

• Let's Sit Down and Do Yoga – Chair Yoga for MS, COPD, Breathlessness and Some Age-Related Problems Teacher Training – AYS / Gill Ansty

Outdoor and Nature Qualifications and Training

Outdoor Qualifications

• Mountain Leader – Mountain Training

• Forest School Leader, Level 3 – Archimedes

• Woodland Management, OCN Level 3 – Centre for Alternative Technology

• John Muir Award Leader Training – John Muir Trust

• Outdoor First Aid – First Aid Cumbria

• 16-hour Outdoor First Aid – ITC

Ecotherapy and Nature-Connected Practice

• Eco-Psychotherapy: Synthesising Ecology and Psychotherapy in Practice and Theory – Confer

• Eco-Psychotherapy and the Emerging Adolescent Mind – Confer

• Walk and Talk Therapy / One to One in Nature – Caroline Brazier

• Groupwork Skills for Ecotherapy – Tariki Trust

• Wild Therapy (Ecopsychology for Counsellors and Psychotherapists, Introductory Weekend) – Jayne Johnson and Leonie Guest

Other Professional Training

• Child Protection – NSPCC

• GDPR Training – High Speed Training

• First Aid at Work

You can read more about my experience and approach, or explore the different ways I offer therapy, clinical supervision and training and workshops.