In Conversation with Bob Brotchie - Redefining Rural Mental Health Practice

In the peaceful countryside near Newmarket, Suffolk, Bob Brotchie operates from his welcoming Anglia Counselling practice, bringing nearly three decades of healthcare experience to his therapeutic work. What sets Bob apart isn't just his impressive credentials—including distinctions in CBT and EMDR, mindfulness mastery, and specialized training in childhood emotional neglect—but his deliberate departure from traditional therapeutic approaches.

After almost two decades as an award-winning senior emergency paramedic and innovator, Bob made a conscious choice to "break the traditional therapy mold." His philosophy centers on genuine connection over academic distance, warmth over clinical coldness, and proactive engagement rather than uncomfortable silences. "Had THE most practical counselling session I have EVER had. Bob really gives clear steps to get out of bad emotions!" reflects one client's experience of his approach.

Operating from the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border, Bob serves both local clients and international ones through online sessions, specializing in anxiety, relationship issues, trauma resolution, and the often-overlooked impact of childhood emotional neglect on adult life. His unique background—combining emergency medicine's acute psychological insights with extensive therapeutic training and his own lived experiences—creates a practice that's both professionally rigorous and deeply human.

In this candid conversation, Bob explores how his unconventional approach shapes his therapeutic relationships, the unique considerations of practicing in a close-knit rural community, and why he believes authenticity and lived experience are essential tools in the healing process.

1. You've positioned yourself as someone who breaks away from the typical therapist archetype - avoiding long silences and academic coldness in favor of being genuinely in your client's corner. What led you to develop this approach, and how do you maintain professional boundaries while offering such warm, unconditional support?

I think what led me to the less academic 'feel' and approach was my own experiences of meeting with counsellors over the years. I knew they could hear me but they demonstrated no real connection, and without connection and subsequent rapport, there is less opportunity for  trust and a truly collaborative effort based on vulnerability and equanimity. People need the same as they would need in childhood. To be seen, heard, believed, and loved (accepted).

I have experienced very few issues with boundaries in the therapeutic relationship. The management of boundaries is exactly as with any therapeutic collaboration and is managed by my own awareness and discipline, supported by supervision if necessary, and the requirements of the client are also clearly and unambiguously stated at the outset and as becomes appropriate.    

2. Operating from Kentford, (near Newmarket), Suffolk in rural East Anglia puts you in a unique position compared to urban practitioners. How does the peaceful setting influence your therapeutic work, and what considerations do you navigate when serving a smaller, close-knit community where discretion and trust are paramount?

Confidentiality in a close knit rural community It is a consideration but as with boundaries, my own consistent practice and indeed office environment and setting confers trust and privacy without being stuffy and clinical. Rural communities used to have their own unique needs but as we, as a society become less connected in-person, and now demonstrate the more curated digital presence, many rural and urban emotional and psychological challenges are becoming more closely observed. Regardless of positions, possessions, associations and affiliations, wealth, etc, humans are fundamentally affected in similar fashion. Specific to the area I work we have high net worth individuals and those with less; the issues are ultimately the same, whether a client has millions pounds or a hundred.      

3. You emphasize bringing both professional expertise and personal experience to your practice. How do you determine when and how to draw from your own journey with clients, particularly when working with complex issues like childhood emotional neglect or trauma? What would you tell other practitioners about integrating authenticity into their professional practice?

Clearly - and first and foremost, that any disclosure has contextual and therapeutic appropriateness and value. It has to be clear that it's not about 'me'. Many clients express they feel better hearing of another's lived experience of what they may feel they are experiencing, yet recognising the uniqueness is true for them.

My clinical knowledge from my previous career in emergency medicine, and the knowledge and training of the entire human organism and all of it's anatomy and physiology can help me to be alert to what is known as potential 'differential diagnosis', although unlike my clinical career, I recognise to formally diagnose a client today is outside of my scope and remit. However, particularly having a strong understanding of the brain and neurology, the hormones commonly driving our behaviours - and other factors that are more clinical than psychological, is helpful in signposting clients to rule out such conditions that may manifest as emotional then and behavioural. One example may be Vitamin deficiencies, another may be understanding Cortisol and how the delivery of this performance enhancing chemical can also be a seat of perceived distress, particularly when waking first thing!  

From my personal experience of significant events in childhood, and knowing how that has impacted on me as an adult and in my relationships; especially those as a partner and as a parent, helps me elicit the stories both the body and the subconscious tells my mind. I help individuals with their learned limiting beliefs and low self-esteem, and couples to overcome and heal from formative conditioning associated with childhood emotional neglect that now shows up in the adult.  Anxiety is the number 1 condition people want to see me with. Relationships, trauma, and finally neurodivergent traits follow close behind.

I would offer that for all who work in such sensitive and honourable positions with humans in distress that those who seek help have all they need within themselves. We simply need to shine the light on those resources as we uncover them. Finally, our clients can spot disconnect and fake care and interest at a thousand paces. Be as one, equal, curious, non-judgemental, and compassionate - always.