Rosie Strain, she/her (BA, MA, HCPC)

I am a Bristol based Creative Arts Psychotherapist (Dramatherapist), Clinical Supervisor & Storyteller in practice since 2006.

I work in private practice, predominantly with adults in acute mental health though I have extensive experience with young people with special educational needs, particularly in the area of young adolescent men with challenging behavior.

As well as my private practice, I am a storyteller and use stories and story-making as a therapeutic tool in all aspects of my work.

I am also the chair of Dramatherapy Southwest (https://www.dramatherapysouthwest.co.uk) a professional association for dramatherapists based in the Southwest of England. We serve as a vital link in the region to keep connected to dramatherapists and peers working in the arts and healing and is a space for CPD events, networking and conferences for nourishing and multi-faceted professional development.

I also sit on the Supervision Sub-Committee of The British Association of Dramatherapists (https://www.badth.org.uk)

My passion for supporting those in the helping professions began many years ago when, prior to training as a therapist, I worked as a carer in a residential school for children and young people with special needs. I was dismayed to see how little clinical and emotional support is offered to those working in high risk and high trauma environments. It became clear that skills based cpd (continuing professional development) is only half of the picture. Supporting staff to deal not only with the practical but also the emotional response to challenging situations ensures that they can offer the best care to those they are supporting. By caring for their own trauma responses and triggers, they become more self reflective and less reactive and can offer a more patient and compassionate kind of care.

The passion for this approach continued through my work as a therapist and I often spent as much time supporting carers and staff members as I did the clients themselves. Helping both to form healthy and appropriate loving attachments had a significant benefit to their ability to care and be cared for and increased wellbeing for both staff and client.

This continued into my practice once I became a clinical supervisor, supporting other psychotherapists in their work. Combining my humanistic approach, person-centered approach within my supervisory practice meant supporting the therapist’s human experience as much as their clinical work. It seems obvious but is not always made explicit; by supporting the practitioner in their whole self, their sense of self-confidence, self-responsibility and self reflectivity becomes the lens through which they engage with their work. By remaining connected to their own process, the supervisee is supported to practice safely, remaining curious and active as to the personal impact of their work, mindful of the crucial elements such as parallel process or transference/counter-transference.

It is out of this holistic approach to safe practice that Relight was born. Our aim and mission is to provide creative and embodied continuing professional development with the focus on CPD that extends beyond the gaining of theoretical skills & knowledge and broadens into nurturing the personal aspects of the practitioner. This in turn has a “trickle-down” effect to the client who benefits from the therapists self development.

While at the center of my heart sit the creative arts, they share the space with my two young children who occupy much of that space too.