Experienced, trauma-skilled, creative support
£65 per session
Free intro & low income rate
Kia Ora, Ciamar a Tha?
Welcome even if you don't identify as queer or neurodiverse, although this reflects my experience, it goes much wider to an approach of decolonising and welcoming all our diversities that may have been hidden and/or we felt were discouraged in the past or we feel misplaced shame about.
NQLab hopes to offer you a creative but safe and cooperative space where cultural assumptions can be paused, oppression unpacked and any distressed parts met with curiosity, compassion & courage.
A healthy suspicion of what ‘normal’ brains and bodies are like is encouraged. This might mean moving away from considering only parts arising in response to family of origin and considering wider systemic, cultural, or even ancestral burdens and constraints.
The idea of ‘Self energy’ in Internal Family Systems (our main approach) includes qualities like calm innate awareness of our connectedness with others and with nature itself. For me, this also evokes shamanic practices common to indigenous cultures, including connection to nature, symbolic meaning and seasonal observance. If these threads resonate with you, I’m look forward to offering an empowering space for growth.
Alistair Brown (he/him)
Advanced MH Practitioner, trained in Internal Family Systems & Cognitive Analytic approaches.
Reg Social Worker, PgHealthSci (Otago), PgAdvPrac (Edinburgh), Dip Interfaith (OneSpirit London)
From IFSW global definition; ‘…empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities. Social Work Practice spans a range of activities including various forms of therapy and counselling, group work, and community work. From an emancipatory perspective, SW strategies are aimed at increasing people’s hope, self-esteem and creative potential to confront and challenge oppressive power dynamics & structural sources of injustice’…
Approach
Experimentation to promote acceptance, creativity & connection within your system
Internal Family Systems (IFS) somatic approach, safely grow, unburden and unmask
Gentle interaction with hidden parts e.g managers, protectors and young exiles
Cultural and interfaith creativity to avoid being confined to stuck stories
All the parts of you have purpose and need connection with the whole
Affirming, queer positive, with compassion for curious & radical parts
In IFS, neurodiversity and queerness are core aspects of self, not ‘disorder’ or responses to environment or trauma
Will it work for me?
I hope you’ll find relief from having to explain/translate neurodiverse, queer or minority experience.
Finding the right relational fit & therapeutic alliance is consistently found to be more influential than the perfect modality in repeated meta studies of talking therapy outcomes.
Vulnerability is the other side of creativity so this approach might feel comfortable to people who have already done some kind of personal work before or have a feel for the territory.
NQ Lab is NOT a service focusing on;
Assessment or diagnosis
Coaching & advice giving
Views on medical or holistic treatment
Rather it’s a safe, supportive space for advanced personal growth.
Supporting you to develop greater internal awareness, capacity and trust with negotiation and consent from all the parts (aspects/facets) of your system.
More about the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach and free IFS Institute webinars
N.B. Conflict of Interests - If we have worked together previously or if you've been subject to measures under the
Mental Health (Care & Treatment) Scotland Act 2003, this may be a conflict of interest due to other roles, I may be able to refer you onward.