It can be overwhelming to make initial contact – or even do a search for a therapist. This post aims to help you figure out what counselling is and how it works. I hope this makes the search for a therapist easier for you. If you do need more support, do not hesitate to get in touch, no strings, I promise! (unless you choose to work with me of course).
Counselling involves a way of relating in the room that might be a bit different from other relationships. The topics of conversation are about you, and it’s about helping you make sense of what brings you to see me in the first place.
Very few personal information about myself will be disclosed. I believe this is important as part of the therapeutic process, and helps us focus on what is really important: your distress and how to help you go through it and to a better place in life.
Due to the nature of the topics discussed, I believe the first few sessions should be used as a way of establishing a safe and confidential environment for you to feel comfortable to disclose personal information that you might be struggling with.
Once an environment of safety and trust is established, we can continue with the focus of our work, which is guided by your discourse, and by my interventions whenever I find something that might link us to the origin of the problem, so we can continue exploring and figuring out how to move forward with the new information being brought up throughout the therapeutic process.
It is important to note that it is an organic, ever-moving process, from the initial contact to the final session and even beyond that (the work that we do in the room will carry on even after our sessions have ended).
MY APPROACH TO THERAPY: WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN WORKING WITH ME
*** GENERAL TOPICS EMERGE IN EACH CLIENT’S PROCESS, SOME ARE BASIC TO ALL HUMAN BEINGS, NO MATTER WHAT THE PRESENTING ISSUES MIGHT BE ***
Over the years, I have worked with many clients, and with many different issues that affect their lives and impact on their relationships, work, and other areas.
I have found that there is a thread in all of their stories and in their struggles. There is also a thread in the way we work through these struggles in each of their individual therapeutic processes.
This thread is something that I find important in my life as well, but that I have seen has a great impact in my clients’ lives and relationships.
That thread relates to Boundaries, Self-Care, and what the client needs for themselves and from those around them.
It sounds easy, right? But trust me, it is something that us humans are not very good at, especially when we are told it is selfish or rude to set clear boundaries and to do things that mean we are taking care of ourselves. I challenge that in the therapy room, and work through what keeps clients from finding their truth and sticking to it.
Whether it be something more practical like getting stuck with all the cleaning in the house and wanting to ask their partner to help out as they live there too, or something less visible like needing to say no to an invitation due to needing time alone to recharge their energies when social contact gets too much, or other more difficult issues to work through like domestic abuse, for example.
These are things that I can help with – setting boundaries, finding ways to look after yourself, and finding out what you need and want out of life and relationships – within the greater context of the current situation that brings you to counselling.
The theories behind the way I work in the therapy room
I work within the psychodynamic theoretical framework, in the way I think about the material presented, but as I’ve had training in other modalities, have the ability to grab on to that knowledge and use it to the best advantage of each one of my clients.
My approach is individualised and person-centred in the sense that I will treat each client as an individual, making sure that the person sitting in front of me gets the best treatment for their particular problem and situation they bring to the room.
I will also use other therapeutic theories when needed and when most helpful to my client(s) , such as Gestalt, Cognitive-Behavioural, Rational-Emotive, Play therapy, person-centred, amongst other approaches to counselling and psychotherapy.
The important thing is that you will be treated as a whole, and as such, I won’t label, diagnose or put you in a theoretical box. I will draw from my knowledge of a variety of theories and modalities as I work with you, helping you create the life that you want and get back on track.
More about the psychodynamic approach
The psychodynamic approach is based on the premise that the unconscious exists, and therefore all our behaviour and thoughts are motivated by its contents.
The patterns of behaviour and thinking that might be making life difficult, most likely stem from repeating patterns brought on by unconscious content that hasn’t been processed or dealt with.
Unprocessed material from our childhood and further years will keep affecting us in the same way as they originally happened (there’s no time in the unconscious), unless and until we sit down and stare them in the face, processing the emotions that we might have been unable to do when the incident first occurred, due to the early developmental stage we might have been in or any other obstacles that might have hindered the process, such as the degree of trauma.
In my practice, I back my work up by the founder of Psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud, as well as more contemporary psychoanalysts and psychodynamic thinkers, such as Melanie Klein, Alfred Bion, Winnicott, Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan, amongst others.
Coming soon…
I will add more about how I use the following models in the counselling room, as your needs arise:
- Person centred therapy
- cognitive behavioural therapy
- cognitive and rational emotive approaches
- transactional analysis
- Gestalt
- Solution focused
- Single Session therapy
I work under the BACP Ethical Framework, which includes the following values:
Respecting human rights and dignity
Protecting the safety of clients
Ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships
Enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application
Alleviating personal distress and suffering
Fostering a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned
Increasing personal effectiveness
Enhancing the quality of relationships between people
Appreciating the variety of human experience and culture
Striving for the fair and adequate provision of counselling and psychotherapy services
and the following principles:
Being trustworthy: honouring the trust placed in the practitioner (also referred to as fidelity)
Autonomy: respect for the client’s right to be self-governing
Beneficence: a commitment to promoting the client’s well-being
Non-maleficence: a commitment to avoiding harm to the client
Justice: the fair and impartial treatment of all clients and the provision of adequate services
Self-respect: fostering the practitioner’s self-knowledge and care for self
and the following moral qualities:
Empathy: the ability to communicate understanding of another person’s experience from that person’s perspective.
Sincerity: a personal commitment to consistency between what is professed and what is done.
Integrity: commitment to being moral in dealings with others, personal straightforwardness, honesty and coherence.
Resilience: the capacity to work with the client’s concerns without being personally diminished.
Respect: showing appropriate esteem to others and their understanding of themselves.
Humility: the ability to assess accurately and acknowledge one’s own strengths and weaknesses.
Competence: the effective deployment of the skills and knowledge needed to do what is required.
Fairness: the consistent application of appropriate criteria to inform decisions and actions.
Wisdom: possession of sound judgement that informs practice.
Courage: the capacity to act in spite of known fears, risks and uncertainty.