About Aicha Brogan
My Journey
Psychotherapy has been a catalyst for me to develop an insatiable curiosity about my own inner world and of yours, particularly the sensate experience, which we are so often disconnected from. My own journey has led me to understand how much as human beings we crave safety at a deep, visceral level, and how, when accessing that gets interrupted, distress and symptoms emerge. For those of us who seek, the path ahead is untraversed, and it has been through journeying this unfamiliar terrain myself that I have found more and more of myself – a wider capacity to be with my felt experience, and to tolerate more complexity whilst remaining steady in myself.
It’s a space where I am continually touched, humbled and moved by my clients, and in this mutual dance held in the space of compassion and courage, I also grow with you and learn from you.
My Approach
I'm committed to supporting healing from trauma, nervous system dysregulation, underlying anxiety, depression or health struggles such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or even loneliness or loss that makes life feel like hard work.
Gestalt therapy has showed me the importance of being able to take in support- so important for all of us that may not have had optimal support, and were left alone in some respects, to do it by ourselves.
Since 2001, I've therapeutically supported hundreds of people across life stages, identities, and cultural backgrounds, with a special focus on developmental trauma.
Underlying my practice is a belief that we all can live more consciously. To know ourselves deeply means facing how we learnt to adjust ourselves to the deficits in our environment or early caregiving, and to create space for something new. To see the ways in which we respond to life not as flawed, but as our best ways of trying to adapt. Seen in this way, we can develop self-compassion for the incredibly complex and intelligent ways our bodies act to keep us safe.
I bring my deep respect for the therapeutic relationship and my ongoing love of learning into the room with you.
My Training
I draw on cutting-edge mindful, somatic, attachment-based, neurobiological, polyvagal, and trauma-informed perspectives in my practice. I hold a deep and enduring interest in the practices that support both self-regulation and co-regulation.
After training in Object Relations Psychotherapy, completing a Graduate Diploma and a Master’s in Counselling (in Emotion Focussed Therapy), I found my home in Gestalt Psychotherapy in 2009 through a three-year training program. Unlike models that aim to diagnose or fix, Gestalt offers a humanistic, present-focused approach that sees the whole person, not just what is not working. It was my way of coming home!
I have completed a three-year training in Somatic Experiencing® which not only solidified my understanding of the importance of tracking the responses of the autonomic nervous system and changed the lens through which I worked greatly, but also introduced me to working with consented to touch to support early developmental trauma, a year of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, accredited EMDR training and Somatic Resilience and Regulation. I am also trained as a Gestalt Supervisor and meet PACFA's requirements for offering clinical supervision.
Current trainings include:
NeuroAffective Touch with Aline LaPierre
Ongoing study in Nervous System, Polyvagal Theory, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and attachment work
Integral Somatic Psychotherapy
Assisting Somatic Experiencing International trainings
Assisting Kathy Kain’s Coupling Dynamics
DARe (Dynamic Attachment Repatterning experience)
I'm a Clinical Member of the Psychotherapy College of PACFA and have served in leadership roles in PACFA, as a Council Member of GANZ and Editor of GANZ newsletter, and former Board member of The Wellspring Warburton.
"Traveler, there is no path, The path is made by walking."
—Antonio Machado
Resources I Love
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Trauma
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A Levine
In an Unspoken Voice: Peter A Levine
Trauma Through a Child's Eyes: Peter A Levine & Maggie Klein
Nurturing Resilience: Kathy L Kain & Stephen J Terrell
Trauma and Recovery: Judith Hermann
The Body Keeps the Score: Bessel Van de Kolk
Healing Developmental Trauma: Laurence Heller and Aline LaPierre
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Pat Ogden & Janina Fisher
Therapy
Focussing: Eugene Gendlin
The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog: Bruce D. Perry & Maia Szalavitz
Character Styles: Stephen M Johnson
Gestalt Therapy
Body of Awareness: Ruella Frank
Body Process: James I Kepner
Awareness Dialogue & Process: Gary M Yontef
Gestalt Therapy Ed. Bud Feder & Ruth Ronall
Brain/Body/Polyvagal
The Whole Brain Child: Daniel J Siegal & Tina P Bryson
Mindsight: Daniel Siegal
The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Deb Dana
Grief
The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Frances Weller
Spirit
A Path with Heart: Jack Kornfield
The Art of Loving: Erich Fromm
An excellent pictorial of the ANS response to threat
Used with permission by Ruby Jo Walker, LCSW, swtraumatraining.com