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Beverly Coghlan
Research Officer and Deputy Chair of the Scientific & Research Committee; Editor of EMDR Therapy Quarterly; member of the Communications Committee
I have worked in health care since training as a registered nurse straight after leaving school, and the clinical experience that I gained has stood me in good stead for the rest of my career. I read for a degree in physiology and pharmacology and worked for a while as an exercise physiologist before starting a 25-year stint in the pharmaceutical industry; firstly as a clinical research associate, then as a project manager, and finally as a director of the proposals and contracts department for a major contract research organisation. I retrained as a health psychologist about 15 years ago and developed an interest in CBT and subsequently completed postgraduate qualifications in CBT and advanced psychotherapy practice. Never far away from research, I returned to The Department of Primary Care Medicine at Southampton University as a research fellow undertaking and publishing research on placebo effects. I have worked in all phases of clinical research and I have participated in all aspects of research from trial design, protocol writing and ethics approvals, through to data collection, monitoring, database entry, analysis and production and dissemination of results.
Why did you choose to train (or retrain) in EMDR therapy?
I experienced the power of EMDR in personal therapy - demonstrated by a reduction in my IES score from 63 to 1 in only three sessions. I resolved then to train in the modality and am still surprised by the dramatic life-changing outcomes that it mediates for my clients.
What is your favourite place on the planet?
As a keen sailor, my favourite place is on the sea. Traversing the Atlantic in a 50ft yacht, racing in Chichester Harbour in my 21ft classic keel boat, Phoenix, or even on board the Isle of Wight ferry; there’s little that can beat it.