Please note that I use the words "London counselling services", "psychotherapy London", "psychotherapeutic counselling London" & "talking therapy London" and also "London counsellor", "London psychotherapist", "psychotherapeutic counsellor in London" & "talking therapist in London" interchangeably. I am trained & accredited as a counsellor, psychotherapist & talking therapist and I am happy to discuss their differences with you.
Counselling Central London Psychotherapy – Integrative Counselling Approach - Counsellor Camden Psychotherapist
Counselling & Psychotherapy Approach, Philosophy & Style
Therapy Style My counselling approach is to identify, consider with you the nature of your problems, so you can move on, change, manage or accept your Iife as it is. Some people may prefer a listening ear or gentle guidance. In other situations people want a more interactive style or more direct approach seeking different tools. I may also offer ways to integrate your thoughts, feeIings & reflections. This can enable us to have a deeper experience of who we are.
Finding Out About You As a psychotherapist I hold the view that each person takes responsibility for the way they use therapy, so the outcome of therapy is in the individual's hands. In the beginning I see the therapy like a "blank canvas" and my role is to find out about you and the way you do things - your modus operandi.
Tasks Of Counselling & Psychotherapy Some people benefit from working with specific tasks within the therapy. An example may be to initially make sense of why our patterns have developed, so we understand the problem. A further stage may be learning how to control our responses in order to prevent a problem re-occurring in the future. A third stage for some may be to move away from simply coping, living to our full potential and sense of wellbeing.
Creative Possibilities My aim is to help you look at your creative possibilities, open up different avenues & develop specific skills, so you can choose to be more resourceful.
New Perspectives Some people come to therapy for "treatment", and this can sometimes be appropriate for a particular, very specific issue. However, we are not just a problem, or label, that can be easily fixed like a broken car. Some problems can't be resolved. However tolerating, reducing, managing, accepting, or finding our way through them may be a challenge. Other problems may be hard to let go of, as if we are attached to them. Psychotherapy can help us to stand back and observe the problem and our selves in it (who we are & how we are), so we are not caught in the problem, but have some perspective. Looking at our problem from a different angle may also assist. New choices may emerge.
Crisis As An Opportunity My role is also to understand you in the context of your problems. We may assume that a crisis is negative, because it is uncomfortable & painful. However, it may also be a sign that needs paying attention to, an opportunity for change or transformation.
Don't be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against - not with - the wind.Hamilton Mabie
Integration A part of us may be out of synchronisation – as if we are out of balance. This can often point to areas we have ignored or be unaware of. Some of us can prioritise a certain aspect of our personality, yet exclude others. For example, specific feeIings may be excluded (we may follow our fear and not our courage) or our mind may focus on redundant beliefs. We may also compartmentalise things. My approach includes offering ways to help integrate & experience all aspects of ourseIf we would rather deny, or wish they didn't exist (see also Avoiding Difficult Feelings). The therapy will take into consideration uncoscious aspects of our personality. Through this integration we may have more of a sense of who we are, our very being, wholeness.
Our Perception I will be interested in how you see things and reflect what I notice back to you.
Focusing On What's Important I focus not so much on analysis and more on curiosity, exploration & reflection, by providing an external perspective, helping to shed light upon any obstacles. This can help you change & manage the areas you want to change. My approach here can be to offer a mirror, reflecting back how I experience you, what I see you doing and checking if this fits, so you may be able to see more of who you are and focus upon the important areas.
What You Say & Don't Say The limits of language mean we can't fully explain the depth of our experiences. Labelling someone & words alone don't do justice to all of who we are. I will pay attention to what's being said as well as what might be missed out. I may also pay attention to your physical feeIings & reactions as sensations in your body.
Imagination & Dreams Alongside listening to what you are literally saying, I will also be interested in what happens in your daydreaming, imagination, dreams, symbols, etc. These experiences can also point to what's happening in your unconscious.
Tolerating Not Knowing In a world where we are supposed to be sure about everything and know absolutes - good/bad, black/white, right/wrong, without any contradictions, double-binds or paradox - it is hard work to find the only correct answer. The world is uncertain, unpredictable and also a mystery, and we can't know everything. Psychotherapy can help you with managing any frustrations, confusions.
Making Choices Some of us may get overwhelmed by too many choices, others can believe they have no choice. The psychotherapy will include making connections to how you think, feeI & respond and how free your will is. This may involve not allowing your emotions to have power over you, and that you can make different choices. We may also look at any restrictive self-beliefs, alongside your prejudices (which we all have). I offer guidance & support, so fresh ways of seeing yourself, different options, choices & creative solutions may become available. (For details see Procrastination, Indecisiveness & Lateness)
Patterns & Triggers All human beings seek & create, and fall into patterns. Some of these help us & others don't. Many of them are not conscious. We fall into roles, responses, patterns & reactions and unless we become aware of them, and change them, they can last for years. My approach includes examining these patterns & triggers with you.
Supportive Role Although we can't change the world out there or others, we can undertake "inner work" by accessing our own resources that reside in us. I will also aim to discover with you what parts of you may have been overlooked or what you have "turned a blind eye to". My role is to support you in discovering not only your external sense of yourself - what you do and would like to do, but also your internal sense of who you are - your inner world, e.g. your subjective experience, home truths, hidden dreams, who you are and what you may become, so your autonomy is in your hands.
In Touch With OurseIves Therapy can also help us to get in touch with our intuitive sense of rightness, simply what we intuit is right at our core, beyond fear & what we are willing to risk. I am therefore interested in your own experience & principles, less so your rationalisations.
Our Ground Sometimes we can lose our ground, or feel on shaky ground (how & where we stand in the world - our own personal boundaries) and the therapy can help us with re-establishing our firm ground, so we are more anchored in who we are, in our body, in this world. (See also Re-Connecting To Who We Are, Being Grounded & Secure In Our Body)
Viewing Issues Also As Symptoms Some of us may be confused, worried, scared or fearful about something. Alongside working with the issue you bring, the therapy also pays attention to what this means for you, how this affects you & how you might find your way through. In the psychotherapy process, as we focus on your personal issues, it can be experienced like listening to something inside of you that wants to communicate with you, and it can take sometime for this "something" to be discovered & revealed. For example, the problems we experience now, however painful, may also be our challenges, cues, pointing to our unfulfilled needs, the possibility of change in our Iife. These problems may also carry deeper messages (how they affect us as a whole) calling us to respond to our underlying symptoms. "What might I need to learn here?" may sometimes be a helpful question to reflect upon. From these deeper messages new meanings may emerge, which can sometimes point us towards our purpose. Some of us may also be in touch with existential concerns. Working with your issues also as symptoms, my bi-focal perspective therefore includes the possible causes in your history & social circumstances (for details see Impact Of Our Past), but also wonders what else might be unfolding for you as your Iife evolves (see also Living To Our Full Potential).
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