Brainspotting Therapy in London
Specialist Brainspotting Therapy for Trauma, PTSD and CPTSD, In-Person near Harley Street and Online
If you have tried talk therapy and EMDR and are still carrying something the body has not released, Brainspotting therapy may reach what they could not. Brainspotting is a focused, body-based trauma therapy, and at Khiron Clinics it is delivered inside a trauma-specialist clinic rather than as a technique on its own.
Access Brainspotting therapy at our London clinic near Harley Street, or through online Brainspotting sessions if you cannot attend in person. When a fuller programme is needed, Brainspotting is integrated into our trauma recovery pathway.
"I can confidently and safely say, it’s nothing short of life changing. For those suffering from unresolved trauma, and who live in this very difficult state I highly recommend Khiron." - Charlotte. M
What is Brainspotting Therapy?
Brainspotting therapy, often shortened to Brainspotting or BSP, is a body-based trauma therapy that uses specific eye positions and focused attention to help you access unresolved emotional material. The phrase “where you look affects how you feel” is closely associated with the approach, and the eye position used in a session is commonly called a “brainspot” or “gaze spot.”
It was developed by the American psychotherapist Dr David Grand in 2003, after observations he made during EMDR work. Brainspotting is used by trauma therapists across many settings, and it can be offered as part of a broader, trauma-informed treatment programme.
“ Healing is not by rote or ritual, it's by presence and attunement.”
Dr David Grand
What Does Brainspotting Mean?
The name combines the visual field, or where you look, with the idea of a brainspot that may be linked to emotional activation. In simple terms, it describes a therapy method that uses eye position and focused attention to help people work with difficult experiences that can feel hard to reach through conversation alone.
How Does Brainspotting Therapy Work?
Three short paragraphs, written in clinician-to-reader register:
- Trauma lives in the body. At Khiron, we understand trauma not just as a memory, but as patterns held in the subcortical brain and autonomic nervous system, not only in conscious thought. Many conventional talk therapies work mainly “top‑down” through the thinking parts of the brain and may not fully reach what the body is holding.
- Brainspotting works bottom‑up. By maintaining a fixed gaze on a single point in your visual field that’s linked to your distress, Brainspotting is designed to help you access subcortical brain and nervous‑system processes that talking alone may not reach. Within that focused attention, your nervous system has the opportunity to process survival responses and emotional material that may have been left incomplete at the time of the original event.
- Polyvagal-informed delivery. At Khiron, Brainspotting is delivered within our Polyvagal‑informed, body‑based trauma model. Throughout each session, the therapist is actively tracking cues of safety, connection, and regulation, and will slow the work down whenever your nervous system needs it.
The Science Behind Brainspotting
Brainspotting is thought to work by reaching the deeper, subcortical brain, the midbrain and limbic areas that handle orienting, emotion, and threat, and the processing that usually sits below conscious awareness. The exact mechanism is still being studied, but a growing body of case studies and small clinical trials suggests Brainspotting can reduce symptoms of PTSD, developmental trauma, anxiety, and depression. Larger, longer-term studies are still needed.
What Brainspotting Therapy Treats
Brainspotting for Trauma and PTSD
Brainspotting was developed to help process unresolved trauma that the body has stored, including post-traumatic stress following a single overwhelming event. It is particularly suited to clients whose trauma symptoms have not eased through talk therapy alone, where the distress is held in the body rather than in words.
Brainspotting for Complex Trauma and CPTSD
Brainspotting is used at Khiron Clinics for Complex PTSD (CPTSD), developmental trauma, and attachment trauma. For complex presentations, it sits inside a layered programme that includes stabilisation work, Somatic Experiencing, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Suitability is assessed during your Initial Consultation.
Brainspotting for Anxiety and Depression
Many clients arrive at Khiron with anxiety disorders or anxiety depression that has not responded to medication or cognitive therapies. When anxiety has a trauma root, a nervous system stuck in protection, Brainspotting can reach the body-held source rather than only managing the symptom.
Brainspotting for Dissociation
Brainspotting is used carefully with dissociation. The therapist tracks for signs that the client is dissociating and slows the work down. For clients with dissociative disorders, stabilisation usually comes first, with Brainspotting introduced when the nervous system has the resources to integrate the work.
Other Presentations Brainspotting Helps With
Brainspotting is also used for trauma-linked chronic pain and chronic fatigue, performance and creativity blocks, stuck grief, emotional distress that has not responded to talk therapy, and body pain without a clear medical cause.
Brainspotting is offered as part of a clinical assessment pathway, so suitability is determined with a trauma specialist rather than assumed.
What Happens in a Brainspotting Session at Khiron?
- Resourcing and check-in. The session begins with a brief check-in so the therapist can understand how you are arriving and whether it feels safe enough to begin. In a trauma-informed setting of Khiron, this also helps ensure the work stays regulated and paced.
- Identifying what to work with. Together, you and your therapist choose an issue to work with, which may be a memory, emotion, body sensation, or pattern that feels stuck. You do not usually need to retell the entire story in detail.
- Finding the brainspot. The therapist uses a pointer or guided eye position to help locate the place in your visual field that feels most emotionally activated. This is often described as the “brainspot” or gaze spot.
- Holding the gaze. You then keep your eyes on that spot while noticing whatever comes up internally, such as thoughts, feelings, images, sensations, or memories. The therapist stays present and supportive while you do not have to force conversation or analysis.
- Therapist attunement. The therapist tracks your responses closely and may slow the process, pause, or return to regulation if needed. This fits Khiron’s broader trauma-informed and polyvagal-informed approach.
- Grounding and integration. The session ends with grounding so you leave feeling settled and oriented. Afterward, clients may notice the work continuing to integrate over time, though responses vary from person to person.
The number of sessions needed varies and is reviewed with the therapist throughout . Brainspotting is often emotionally activating during the session and quieter afterwards (although this too can vary from person to person), with integration continuing for several days.
Brainspotting Therapy in London and Online
In-Person Brainspotting Near Harley Street, London
We deliver in-person Brainspotting sessions at the London clinic near Harley Street in central London. The space is private, calm, and designed to support nervous-system regulation from the moment you arrive.
Online Brainspotting Therapy
Online Brainspotting therapy works on video, because the principle of the fixed gaze still applies. Khiron Clinics offers online sessions to clients for whom in-person sessions are not workable.
Brainspotting Inside Khiron's Residential Programme
Where your clinical picture calls for it, Brainspotting is delivered as part of the residential programme at Khiron's clinics in Oxfordshire. Travel to and from the residential clinics is organised and covered for international clients.
Why Choose Khiron for Brainspotting Therapy in the UK
Most Brainspotting in the UK is delivered as a standalone modality by an individual therapist. Khiron is the world’s first Polyvagal Informed Certified residential clinic, so Brainspotting here is delivered inside an entire organisation built around nervous-system safety. For bottom-up trauma work, where the body leads, that environment is what makes the difference.
- The world’s first Polyvagal Informed Certified residential clinic. Every part of the organisation, not only the therapy room, is built around how the nervous system responds to stress, trauma, and cues of safety.
- Recognised by renowned trauma experts. Khiron’s clinicians are trained, informed, and supervised by Dr Bessel van der Kolk, Dr Janina Fisher, Dr Stephen Porges, and Dr Dick Schwartz, and those experts endorse Khiron by name. Dr Janina Fisher has said, “There is only one programme that I can recommend and it is Khiron Clinics.”
- Brainspotting delivered by Brainspotting-trained clinicians. Khiron’s Brainspotting practitioners work inside a Polyvagal-informed clinical team and are supervised by senior trauma clinicians.
- A complete trauma recovery pathway. Brainspotting connects to EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, and residential care, so treatment can adapt to what each client needs rather than starting over elsewhere.
Book Your Initial Consultation
Begin Trauma-Focused Brainspotting Therapy at Khiron
Three short paragraphs following Khiron’s standing consultation framing:
Every client who begins Brainspotting therapy at Khiron Clinics first has an Initial Consultation. This is an opportunity to meet with a senior member of our clinical team, share your story, learn more about our trauma-focused approach, and gain insights into the root causes of your symptoms.
Initial Consultations take place near Harley Street clinic in London, at our residential clinic in Oxfordshire, or online, depending on what suits you.
Following your consultation, you receive a written summary, a clinical formulation, and a treatment recommendation, allowing you to review the information at your own pace before deciding on next steps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both are body-based therapies that use eye position to reach trauma the mind cannot easily talk through, and Brainspotting actually grew out of EMDR. The main difference is that EMDR follows a structured eight-phase protocol with side-to-side eye movement, while Brainspotting holds a fixed gaze on a single point and follows where your nervous system leads. Which suits you better is something your initial consultation helps decide.
Yes. Because the principle of the fixed gaze still applies on screen, online Brainspotting works well for many clients. It suits people who cannot attend in person. For some clients with complex trauma or dissociation, in-person work is recommended first, and this is decided together.
For many people who have lived with intrusive memories, EMDR reaches what talking therapy alone had not, which is part of why NICE and the World Health Organization recommend it for PTSD. It is not a quick fix, and it is not right for every presentation. Whether it is worth it for you is best judged after an assessment, where suitability is considered honestly rather than assumed.
There is no fixed number. Some people notice shifts within a few sessions, while complex or long-standing trauma usually calls for longer work inside a wider programme. The number is shaped by your history and how your nervous system responds, and it is reviewed with your therapist throughout.
Brainspotting is generally well tolerated, but it can be emotionally activating during a session, and you may feel tired or tender for a day or two as the work integrates. This is why it is delivered in a trauma-informed, Polyvagal-informed setting, where your therapist paces the work and grounds you before you leave. For clients prone to dissociation, stabilisation comes first.
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