Counselling and Psychotherapy
Many things can make us turn for help to someone outside our circle of friends and family. The counselling and psychotherapeutic space offers a safe, confidential and supportive place for you to talk about your experiences, inner conflicts and emotional pain which feel difficult to cope with on your own. Your concerns can include:
- Depression, anxiety and stress
- Feeling stuck, lost, empty
- Bereavment and Loss
- Anger management
- Relationship issues
- Work related problems
- Eating disorders
- Life change and crisis
- Yearning to find inner peace and well-being
- Addiction
- Or you simply find that your life is not working as you expected and something needs to change
Whether you want short term or longer term help I am available to support you as you learn to hear and trust your own wisdom.
My Approach
Counselling and psychotherapy allows the opportunity for you to work in confidence to overcome problems you may be experiencing in your life. As a psychosynthesis therapist, my approach is practical, seeking to support you in deepening your understanding of yourself and the beliefs and attitudes that may be underlying your choices about your life. The basis of the work is dialogue between us. Where appropriate, we can work more experientially, for example with drawing or with visualisation. We will work on both inner and external experiences. The body has important messages for us, where we hold emotions, tensions and memories. How these are experienced by you will inform our work. Counselling and psychotherapy involves looking at your unique life experience, your relationships with family, work and community. CBT+ can provide a strong framework for short term work.
As a practitioner I draw on various methodologies and traditions to complement my approach to working psychotherapeutically. These include Somatic Experiencing®, Reiki, Qigong Mediation and Tai Chi. For me, the body holds all our experiences in life and as we collaborate with it we can heal.
Somatic Experiencing® (SE®)
Somatic Experiencing® uses a body-awareness approach to trauma. This approach was developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Based upon the realisation that human beings have an innate ability to overcome the effects of trauma, the use of SE® techniques can help to restore self-regulation, and return a sense of aliveness, relaxation and wholeness to traumatised individuals. Dr. Levine has applied his work to combat veterans, rape survivors, Holocaust survivors, auto accident and post surgical trauma, chronic pain sufferers, and even to infants after suffering traumatic births.
Reiki
Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It has been effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect. It also works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to relieve side effects and promote recovery.
Tai Chi
T'ai Chi Ch'uan is the ancient Chinese art of moving meditation, it is based on the Taoist understanding that all things are comprised of the interplay of two complimentary forces - Yin and Yang. With its distinctive grace and flowing movements, T'ai Chi Ch'uan is becoming an increasingly popular form of relaxation in the West, as it provides an effective antidote to our stressful and competitive society. Many people practice T'ai Chi solely for its benefits to health and as a means to relieve tension. T'ai Chi Ch'uan is also an effective martial art.
Through the practice of T'ai Chi we learn to apply principles such as the yielding, overcoming the unyielding, the soft overcoming the hard. As the body gradually learns to soften and yield, the mind follows suit by becoming more open and flexible. Thus, after much work, the habitual actions of mind and body - which at first seem natural - begin to fall away and one is eventually left in a natural state. In this natural state we learn to respond to each situation as it comes, unhindered by memories of the past and conceptions about the future. A clearer perception of the 'Heart of the Matter' develops.
Qigong Meditation
Qigong meditation is an ancient Chinese method of exercise and meditation that makes the mind and spirit calm and cultivates health, well-being, and long life. Visualisations are used to improve the mind/body relation and aid healing. Quiet is the key. The Qi is the fundamental energy of the body; while gong means the ability of moving this Qi. This supports and nourishes the body and enables you to develop a strong level of embodied presence.
Our Initial Session
We start with an initial session that enables us to meet, for you to share what brings you to counselling and to see how therapy might help. I will explain a little about how I work and we can discuss a best possible approach for you. This initial session also allows us to decide whether we are comfortable to work together.
