The anatomy of therapeutic alliance: Integrating physiotherapy and psychotherapy

Anniken Chadwick is a Registered Physiotherapist and Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP) Allied Professional. Her clinic, “The Cheerful Pelvis”, was founded in Vancouver and she also practices on the Sunshine Coast. The Cheerful Pelvis treats male and female pelvic conditions, with a strong focus on a biopsychosocial approach informed by Anniken’s IBP training. Anniken found a high prevalence of birth, sexual and medical trauma as well as chronic pain in her pelvic floor population. She sought education in the somatic psychotherapy world to help her with these complex patients. Her subsequent personal and professional journey of self inquiry has greatly enhanced her relational skills, aka her therapeutic alliance with patients. This has given her huge confidence and much greater success in treating clients with trauma and emotional issues affecting their physical functioning and recovery.

Anniken believes the delay in application of the biopsychosocial model into practice is due to our lack of education in how to relate to our patients and our professional selves in a way that allows for this approach. She has taken 2 years of IBP training and condensed it into a day of experiential learning to help fill this educational void. She hopes to help therapists learn to leverage their strong patient relationships to optimize the effectiveness of physiotherapy, and improve their own professional experiences.

Margie Gayle is a "Registered Professional Counselor” with the Canadian Professional Counsellor’s Association, and a licensed Clinical Psychologist in the State of California. She was introduced to Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP) in 1995 and subsequently graduated from IBP’s 3-year, 400-hours, mental health professional program at the IBP Central Institute in Los Angeles. Upon certification as an IBP practitioner, she undertook the 400 hour IBP Teacher Training program to later become certified as an IBP teacher. She then attended two full years of the IBP graduate training program which emphasizes more advanced IBP therapeutic sessions, including relationships and sexuality. Margie served on the IBP Advisory Council beginning in 2006. She has taught at the Los Angeles Central, the Canadian Pacific Northwest, and the Saskatoon IBP Institutes. In 2009, she graduated with her doctorate. She achieved licensure as a psychologist in California in 2013, after a doctoral fellowship at the Northridge Hospital Family Practice Center in Northridge, California. During this fellowship, she worked with medical doctors and their patients to explore the emotional link to their physical symptoms. Margie moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2016 and currently operates a private practice in downtown Vancouver. She is also the co-founder of Connected Living Personal Growth Seminars.