How I work
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My counselling philosophy is that there is no single approach to therapy that can treat all issues. With this in mind, I chose a counselling training that included multiple psychological theories such as CBT, existentialism, person centred counselling, humanistic therapies, solution focused counselling and more. I am continuously adding to this list of approaches as I take on new trainings each year - so if there is a certain way of working that you prefer, or not, then please do let me know. My approach as a talking therapist is based on a combination of my various therapeutic trainings, my individual personality and my personal life experience, including my enormously positive experiences of my own therapy. |
My work with Dr Irvin D. Yalom - whom you may already know of as the infamous author of A Matter of Death and Life: Love Loss and What Matters in the End and Love's Executioner - has encouraged me to bring an existential focus to my work and to my approach in supporting my clients.
My responsibility as your therapist is to use these approaches to inform the way that I guide you through our work together.
This training has taught me the types of questions to ask to encourage useful reflections or to allow you to reframe pase events and adjust perspective. Over my years in counselling practise I have honed a way of working that creates a strong rapport with my clients and forms a secure environment within our sessions where you can examine yourself and how you have come to be how you are today. My questions will allow you to discover things about yourself and the way that you approach your life that you may not have considered before. If we want something about our lives to change, first we must really see it for what it is, and you don't have to do that alone. My view is that emotional pain is a message from our brain telling us that something is wrong.
It's a fundamental signal from our body telling us that something is hurting us and that we need to do something about it. If we don't pay attention to this signal then we risk allowing the pain to worsen. Looking analytically and philosophically at this pain is what I do everyday. Your pain may feel overwhelming, complex or scary, perhaps it's been there as long as you can remember- or it's something that you have avoided looking at through fear of making it worse. But life is short and living in fear is no life at all. If you can relate to this, then perhaps now is the time to make a change. |