Peter Bryant-Cooke

About

Research experience

I am a clinician, supervisor, coach and practitioner-researcher with a particular interest in trauma, coaching psychology, therapeutic impasse, embodied distress, clinical judgement, and the conditions that support psychological change. My work sits at the intersection of psychotherapy, trauma-focused practice, psychologically informed coaching, supervision, health, neurodiversity and practice-based inquiry.

I am currently undertaking doctoral research at the University of Chester, exploring EMDR therapy in relation to complex bio-social and medical presentations, with a particular focus on chronic pain and psychosomatic distress. My developing research interests include the psychological, relational and embodied dimensions of trauma, pain, medically unexplained symptoms, functional presentations, and difficulties that sit across conventional mind-body boundaries.

My approach to research supervision is pluralistic, reflective and grounded in clinical practice. I am especially interested in research that remains close to lived therapeutic and developmental experience, including work on trauma, complexity, avoidance, rupture, shame, dissociation, embodiment, relational process, professional identity, coaching, and therapeutic stuckness. I am comfortable supporting qualitative inquiry, case study methodology, reflective practitioner research, mixed methods, service evaluation, literature review, systematic review, and outcome-informed psychotherapy research.

Clinically, I have extensive experience in trauma-focused and integrative psychotherapy, including EMDR therapy, hypno-psychotherapy, supervision and coaching-informed practice. I routinely work with complex presentations including PTSD, complex trauma, bereavement, chronic pain, dissociation, neurodivergence, medically unexplained symptoms, functional presentations, and relational trauma. A particular strength of my clinical and supervisory practice is helping practitioners think through difficult conversations, avoidance, resistance, uncertainty, treatment blocks and apparent therapeutic stalemates.

I am also interested in the thinking processes that shape therapeutic, supervisory and coaching practice, including clinical judgement, decision-making, heuristics and bias. This includes how practitioners and clients make sense of complexity under conditions of uncertainty, threat, avoidance, shame, risk or emotional arousal, and how reflective practice can support more flexible, compassionate and effective responses.

My coaching work has strengthened my interest in how people identify patterns, expand perspective, make decisions, work with avoidance or ambivalence, and translate insight into action. I am particularly interested in coaching psychology and psychologically informed coaching where these overlap with trauma-informed practice, supervision, leadership, professional identity development, agency, choice and behavioural change.

This informs my wider interest in psychotherapy, supervision and coaching as related but distinct contexts for psychological change.

I routinely use measures such as PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5, DES-II, WSAS, PHQ-15 and other tools relevant to trauma, dissociation, functioning and somatic distress. However, I am equally interested in how quantitative data can be held alongside narrative, relational, embodied and reflective forms of knowing.

My postgraduate training includes an MSc in Psychology from Goldsmiths, University of London, which included research methods, statistical analysis and an empirical research project. I also hold an Executive MBA, which developed my interest in leadership, organisational change, governance and evidence-informed decision-making. These experiences inform my interest in psychotherapy research not only as an academic activity, but as a way of improving practice, strengthening reflective capacity, and understanding change in real-world settings.

Research degree

MSc Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London Current doctoral researcher, University of Chester

Subjects I am interested in supervising / relevant words

Trauma; PTSD; complex trauma; EMDR therapy; psychotherapy; hypno-psychotherapy; integrative psychotherapy; coaching psychology; psychologically informed coaching; supervision; resistance; avoidance; rupture; shame; dissociation; therapeutic impasse; clinical uncertainty; clinical judgement; decision-making; heuristics; cognitive bias; risk; uncertainty; chronic pain; psychosomatic presentations; medically unexplained symptoms; functional neurological disorder; IBS; health psychology; neurodiversity; professional identity development; reflective practice; clinical outcomes; practice-based evidence; leadership; agency; choice; meaning-making; behavioural change; embodied distress; therapeutic change.

Research methods

Qualitative research; mixed methods; reflective practitioner research; case study methodology; practice-based research; service evaluation; literature review; systematic review; routine outcome measurement; thematic analysis; clinically informed research design; quantitative outcome evaluation.

Availability

I am available on a flexible basis, primarily online. My availability is usually best during weekday mornings, some afternoons, and limited evening slots by arrangement.

Contact details

Peter Bryant-Cooke
Email: [email protected]