Abi Perryman

Abi will be co-tutoring with Gav, she is a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor and EMDR Practitioner & Supervisor working in private practice at The Bloom Room MK in Milton Keynes. Her clinical work includes individual and couples therapy, with particular interests in attachment, trauma, neurodiversity, identity and relational patterns.

Her approach is integrative, drawing particularly on attachment theory, person-centred practice, psychodynamic thinking, Transactional Analysis and CBT, alongside EMDR and psychoeducation. At the centre of her work is an interest in understanding not simply what somebody does, but what may sit underneath it, how early relationships, experiences, adaptations and nervous-system responses can continue to shape the way we experience ourselves and others in adulthood.

Abi has a particular interest in making theory accessible and useful within clinical practice. She enjoys exploring the point where theory meets the person in the room, using reflection, curiosity and creative ways of working to help clients understand patterns that may previously have felt confusing or difficult to articulate.

Her work with neurodivergent clients has also developed into a significant area of clinical interest, particularly where neurodivergence intersects with attachment, trauma, masking, relationships and sense of self. She is interested in how established therapeutic theory can be understood through a neurodivergent lens, while remaining attentive to the individuality of each client’s experience.

Abi completed the Level 5 Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling with an Attachment Focus with Optima and brings that experience with her into teaching. Her teaching style is reflective and theory-led, with an emphasis on helping students develop their own clinical thinking rather than simply learning theory in isolation. She encourages curiosity, discussion and thoughtful challenge, particularly around what theory might look like when sitting opposite a real person in the therapy room.

Alongside her clinical and teaching work, Abi continues to develop therapeutic models and psychoeducational resources through The Bloom Room, often emerging from themes she encounters repeatedly within her practice.

For Abi, becoming a therapist is as much about developing the capacity to think, reflect and remain curious as it is about acquiring knowledge. She hopes to create a learning environment where students feel able to explore ideas, question what they think they know and gradually develop confidence in their own way of being a therapist.

Outside of work, she is a mother of three in a neurospicy household, and brings her lived experience alongside a love of horses and music, all of which inform her grounded, human approach to her work and teaching.