What is BrainWorking Recursive Therapy - BWRT?

Sometimes the reaction happens before you've had time to think.

You can know something is safe and still feel frightened.

You can know you're capable and still freeze.

You can understand exactly why you react the way you do and still be unable to stop the reaction from happening.

That is because not every response begins with conscious thought.

Rather than waiting for an unwanted feeling to appear and then trying to manage it, BWRT works with the process that generates the response in the first place. This is one of the reasons why BWRT is fast and complete.

BEGIN WITH A CONVERSATION

BWRT® — BrainWorking Recursive Therapy® — works with those automatic response patterns.

What BWRT actually changes

Your brain is constantly using previous experience to predict what is likely to happen next. Much of that happens before conscious thought gets involved.

Your brain's priority is not to make you happy, confident or high-performing.

Its priority is protection.

If something in the present resembles a pattern previously associated with danger, embarrassment, pain, failure or threat, the brain can produce a protective response before your rational mind has had time to evaluate what is actually happening.

That response might be anxiety, panic, avoidance, freezing, loss of confidence or another unwanted reaction.

You may know perfectly well that the reaction isn't necessary.

That doesn't necessarily stop it.

BWRT focuses on updating the response pattern itself, so the brain no longer needs to produce the old reaction.

In BWRT, we often refer to the reptilian complex when explaining this fast, automatic part of the response system. It is not a claim that the brain is literally made up of three separate brains. It is a useful psychological model for understanding that the brain developed over time and that some of its most protective responses are extremely fast and automatic.

The aim isn't to modify the feeling after it appears. It is for that unwanted response not to be generated in the first place.

WHAT MAKES BWRT DIFFERENT?

You don't have to repeatedly relive the past.

It isn't necessary to spend session after session going back through distressing experiences in order to work with the response they created.

You don't have to disclose everything.

BWRT can often be carried out without telling me the details of something you would prefer to keep private. I need to understand the response you want to change, not every detail of the story behind it.

BWRT is carried out fully consciously. It is not hypnosis, EMDR, NLP or a relaxation technique.

It isn't about coping better with the same reaction.

Breathing exercises, distraction and other coping strategies can sometimes be useful. But my work is focused on changing the response that makes those strategies necessary.

BWRT is carried out fully consciously. It is not hypnosis, EMDR, NLP or a relaxation technique.

WHAT CAN BWRT HELP WITH?

BWRT can be used across a wide range of unwanted emotional, behavioural and performance-related responses.

Anxiety & panic

When the brain continues to signal threat despite there being no current need for the response.

Trauma & PTSD

When past experience continues to influence how the brain responds in the present.

Confidence & self-belief

When ability remains but the automatic expectation of what will happen has changed.

Grief, loss & major change

When the brain is struggling to update after a significant loss or change, leaving old emotional responses continuing long after life itself has moved into a different reality.

Chronic pain & physical responses

Where the brain has learned to maintain a protective physical response, BWRT can be used to work with the pattern that continues to generate or amplify that response.

Phobias & specific fears

When a particular situation, object or experience triggers an immediate fear response.

Performance

When pressure, expectation or an established response interferes with what you are actually capable of doing.

Rider confidence

One of my specialist areas, working with riders whose automatic fear response no longer reflects their ability

What happens in a BWRT session?

You remain fully conscious and in control throughout.
We identify the response you want to change and, importantly, what you would prefer to experience instead.
The work is structured and focused. There is no hypnosis and you do not have to repeatedly revisit or describe distressing experiences.
For some clients, the work can be largely content-free, which means you can work on something highly personal without having to disclose details you would rather keep private.
My role is not to tell you how you should feel.
It is to work with you to change the automatic response that is currently getting there first.

Begin with a conversation

You don't need to decide for yourself whether BWRT is suitable before contacting me.

The initial consultation gives us the opportunity to look at what is happening, what you want to change and whether my approach is appropriate for you.

The consultation fee is redeemable against your first therapy session if you decide to proceed.