The Process
What is counselling?
Mary Pipher best articulates “counselling” in her book ‘Letters to a Young Therapist’: She writes, “Albert Einstein said, ‘A problem cannot be solved by the consciousness that created it.’ Therapy gives clients a safe relationship in which to explore their inner world and to consider taking risks in their external one. It provides them with another point of view on their own particular mixed-up universe.”
In other words, counselling is a protected space and time for you to untangle.
My approach
Awareness, regulation, then repair.
My therapeutic approach incorporates principles of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Person-Centered Therapy (PCT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behaviour therapy (DBT). For couples, I use the Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and the Developmental Model. I have found these effective to help couples gain awareness, strengthen friendship and reduce negative sentiment.
I’m drawn to the humanistic schools of psychology, and I use talk therapy to learn about you, the changes you’re looking to make, and the challenges you experience within the context of your past, present, and future.
We spend the first 1-2 sessions getting to know your story, and then together decide on goals to work towards. My role is to provide you with an objective lens that helps you go deeper: not only as your sounding board, but also to challenge your view, to question your thinking, and to uncover blind spots that may have gone overlooked. Therapy is only a very small part of your week, and because of this I like to offer you tools to try between sessions. These tools help carry what we work on into your daily lives, and you will see they are often the carriers to change.
I understand how difficult the process to start counselling can be. I invite you to reach out to understand more about how I work and what you can expect in counselling.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is not easily described in general statements. It varies depending on the personalities of the therapist and patient, and the particular problems you bring forward. There are many different methods used to deal with the problems you hope to address. Psychotherapy calls for a very active effort on your part. In order for the therapy to be most successful, you will have to work on things we talk about both during our sessions and between sessions.
Psychotherapy can have benefits and risks. Since therapy often involves discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience uncomfortable feelings like sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, loneliness, and helplessness.
On the other hand, psychotherapy has also been shown to have benefits for people who go through it. Therapy often leads to better relationships, solutions to specific problems, and significant reductions in feelings of distress.
Our first few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs. By the end of the evaluation, I will be able to offer you some first impressions of what our work will include and a treatment plan to follow, if you decide to continue with therapy. You should evaluate this information along with your own opinions of whether you feel comfortable working with me.