WENDY BRATHERTON
CONTACT US
Tel: 01760 724704
Mob: 07527 476878
wendy.bratherton@btinternet.com
WENDY BRATHERTON
About Wendy
Wendy Bratherton BSc
I have lived in Cambridge much of my life. My life and work have been interwoven. I started in Jungian analysis when I had a young family. As a result of many years of therapy and aware of how much it had helped me, I decided to train as an analyst. I was working as a teacher in a Further Education College and I became part time so that I could obtain the experience I needed in Mental Health clinical settings, in order to be able to apply for the training with the Society of Analytical Psychology. I became a Jungian analyst in 1993 and worked in Cambridge in private practice for over 26 years.
I set up the Cambridge Complementary Health Clinic in Cambridge with my partner, an Acupuncturist. We worked alongside Homeopaths and Osteopaths. Through the work of some of the Osteopaths I became intrigued with the Craniosacral Therapy they offered.
As part of my Analytic work, I taught Infant Observation seminars for over 20 years, to Psychotherapists and trainees. My main interest was in early developmental trauma and how it affects babies, children and adults. During my analytical work I became aware of the importance of touch, which is not part of the analytical model. I decided to train in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy as it echoed the way I worked in analysis – holding a safe space for the psyche and body to come into and explore without judgement. I worked with the two modalities as separate therapies, but when a patient was stuck and implored me to try Craniosacral therapy, I found a supervisor and I engaged with both therapies on a regular basis. The transformation in her was astounding. She was able to change her life and follow the path she had always dreamed of.
I also trained with Marion Woodman who ran BodySoul Rhythms ® Workshops together with Mary Hamilton (choreographer) and Ann Skinner (voice coach). The work was deeply rooted in the theories of Carl G Jung. We engaged with dreams, deep relaxation, movement, voice work, art and mask making, to help the energy of the dreams come through. It was through these workshops and subsequent workshops that I led, that I started to introduce Qigong to help participants develop and contain their qi.
I built up a thriving practice and was giving talks and workshops when I was diagnosed with cancer. Another chapter in my life began. After one year of treatment, I was left with a skeleton practice and decided to start again in Norfolk and to focus on Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and BodySoul workshops. I retired from my analytic society. During the time I was recovering from the cancer treatment I started to run a Qigong group for recovering cancer patients at a Cancer help centre in Cambridge. It helped me and also all the people who attended to recover more quickly and build their resilience again. Qigong became a very important resource for everyone.
My analytic experience together with the craniosacral experience and Qigong have shown me just how interlinked mind and body are. Through the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy I have learnt about the recent insights of neuroscience and how to treat trauma. I integrate the work of Peter Levine and Somatic Experiencing and Stephen Porges’s work on the vagus nerve, called the Polyvagal theory. Both of these are a central part of my work.
My psychoanalytic experience and my experience with mothers and babies is all integrated into my work with the Biodynamic Craniosacral work, the BodySoul work and my Qigong teaching.