About Cheryl Burgess

Cheryl Burgess Relational Integrative Psychotherapist
Therapeutic Counsellor
MBACP Registered 404163

Hello, I'm Cheryl. I'm a fully qualified Relational Integrative Psychotherapist and Therapeutic Counsellor, and a registered member of the BACP. But the part of my background that shapes my work most is the part that doesn't appear on my educational certificates.

For almost 20 years I was a specialist foster carer, parenting children with complex trauma, attachment difficulties and a range of additional needs. Before that, I worked as a children's lawyer. I have sat in courtrooms fighting for both children's and parent's rights and I have sat at a kitchen table or at the top of the stairs or outside a child's room at midnight trying to reach a child whose early experiences had made the world feel like a dangerous and unsafe place.

Those years gave me something clinical training alone cannot: a deep, lived understanding of how early experiences shape who we become, how we behave, how we love, how we cope and how we struggle. That understanding is genuine, real, experience and not something that can be taught and is at the heart of everything I do. So together we can overcome, heal, grow and turn into the very best versions of ourselves as we walk your journey together and at your pace.

My Specialism

I specialise in attachment trauma therapy for adults. Much of the work I do is with people who are experiencing anxiety, relationship difficulties, emotional overwhelm or a persistent sense that something is wrong, without always being able to name what it is. Very often, these experiences trace back to early childhood: to the relationships that were there, and to the ones that were not.

I also work with adults experiencing CPTSD, grief and bereavement, and with parents and carers of children with complex needs. These are areas where my personal and professional experience overlap, and where I can offer something genuinely different.

My Qualifications and Professional Memberships

How I Work

At heart I am person-centred, and I use that way of being as the foundation for everything. Building a genuinely trusting, warm and non-judgmental relationship with the people I work with is not a technique, it is the starting point. Without that, nothing else works.

From that foundation I draw on a range of approaches, tailoring how I work to each individual rather than applying a fixed model. I lean towards psychodynamic and attachment-focused thinking, which means we explore how your past, particularly your early relationships, shapes how you feel and relate in the present.

I also work somatically, bottom-up from body to brain. Trauma is held in the nervous system, not just in conscious thought, so stabilisation always comes first. Before we explore anything difficult, we build your capacity to stay grounded and regulated. The tools I use for this include guided imagery relaxation, polyvagal exercises, havening, grounding techniques and sensory exercises.

I trained in Rewind Therapy this year, a powerful, evidence-based trauma therapy that allows traumatic memories to be processed without having to retell them in detail. It is particularly effective for PTSD, CPTSD and specific traumatic events, and it works quickly relative to many other approaches.

Insurance is provided by Balens Specialist Insurance Brokers, who are the leading insurer for therapists and complementary health practitioners in the UK.