Dave Costello

Dip COT DCHyp ACertCSHyp GQHP

 

About Me

 

I have been involved in medicine and complementary healthcare for some 30 years. I have worked as an Occupational Therapist since 1990, and spent 14 years working in NHS Mental Health Services. I believe strongly in the concepts of recovery and empowerment, and that individuals can lead meaningful lives above and beyond any labels that are stuck on them.

 

I believe that employment is one of the ways that individuals can retain control over their lives, and protect their self esteem and sense of purpose and value. This led me to be involved in developing and being part of services that helped support people to remain in and return to work following periods of ill health, particularly for those who have experienced stress, anxiety and depression. I was part of a European Social Funded Project in Wales called Healthy Minds at Work, whose aims were to make workplaces mentally healthier and less stressful places to work in. I delivered mental health promotion and training to a variety of organisations including Dyfed Powys Police and Swansea City and County Council. I have also been a co-author of a publication called The Job Retention Practitioner's Handbook. 

 

Parallel to this work, I have had an equally long and ongoing passion for complementary medicine - what used to be considered alternative, but is now becoming more and more mainstream, owing to the increasing failure of orthodox medicine to address anything but symptoms with so many health conditions.

 

I have searched for the tools and approaches that help me as a practitioner to effect real and long lasting change with my clients, and feel confident that my skills, knowledge and experience can help produce healing and change.

 

What is an Integrative Therapist?

 

This simply means that I bring together and draw upon a variety of therapies and approaches to best suit the needs of the individual. This includes CLINICAL HYPNOTHERAPY, REIKI, EDEN ENERGY MEDICINE and BUSH FLOWER ESSENCES. Of course, there are many occasions when someone will only come to see me for just one of these therapies. However, you can be sure that the added value of seeing me always means that I am able to draw upon other perspectives, tools and techniques.

 

The truth is that holistic approaches are the best, since our mind, body and spirit are one inseparable system, and ill health in one area will impact upon the others. Equally, bringing about balance and wellbeing in any one of these individual areas usually has a positive knock on benefit for the other areas too.

 

What You Will Receive From Me

 

You will be guaranteed respect, empathy and genuine regard - whatever your issue - when we meet, since these are the fundamentals of a good therapeutic alliance, whether your goals are lifestyle related, such as losing weight or giving up smoking, or they are more recognised clinical conditions, such as generalised anxiety disorder, low mood or PTSD.

 

I work with gentleness and good humour, and always aim to empower you with the tools and information to be back in control of your own health and wellbeing at the earliest opportunity.

 

 The Right Qualifications

 

Hypnotherapy is still not a properly accredited therapy, much to the dismay of hypnotherapists who have trained thoroughly and work to uphold the reputation of this amazing therapeutic intervention. I have trained with the Brief Strategic Therapy Foundation to Advanced Practitioner Level, which has earned me the right to be both a member of the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR), and also to be one of the first hypnotherapists in Wales to be passed by the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the UK regulator for complementary healthcare.

 

I undertook similarly in-depth training for my other skills, and am a Reiki Master, having trained to Advanced Level with William Lee Rand, one of the most reputable and well-known teachers of Reiki in the world, who has done much to bring this incredible healing protocol from the esoteric into the mainstream.

 

In 2015 I completed my Practitioner Certification Training in Eden Energy Medicine, and feel blessed to have worked with Donna Eden and the Innersource Training Team, who brought the Certification Programme to Europe for the first time in 2011/12. I also completed my Year 3 Clinical Practicum, to consolidate these skills and knowledge further, learning new ways of working to support individuals with Cancer and Heart Conditions. 

 

Energy Medicine has been an incredible set of skills to add to my toolkit, and it helps sustain my own health and wellbeing every single day. I firmly believe that Energy Medicine will become one of the key healthcare interventions of the 21st Century, and its time is only just dawning.