One-on-one Counselling
In one-on-one counselling, I look to help you work towards your goals and transform your current challenges into sustainable life changes. Change is always a mixture of insight and action. Insight is about recognising with compassion why we are the way we are, and how we got to where we are today. Action is about using this insight as a jumping off point for living life differently. Without insight, action is directionless. Without action, insight is stagnant. I make sure to include and balance each of these components in my work with clients according to their individual needs.
I work with adults of all ages and regardless of gender with issues ranging from:
Anxiety
Depression
Relationship difficulties
Adapting to life circumstances
Meaninglessness/purpose in life
Grief
Childhood wounds
Church/Christian issues
What approach do you use?
Whatever fits you! One nice thing about therapy is there’s lots of evidence-based ways to do it well, so I can match my approach to your goals and comfort. While I have an eclectic style, meaning I use techniques from lots of different disciplines, there are certain approaches to which I gravitate most often. Here’s a sampling of what I offer:
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an innovative model that sees the mind as a series of interconnected but distinct parts. Growing up, almost all of us have parts who take extreme roles in our system, often making us depressed, anxious, numb or addicted, to protect against experiencing some past pain again. The aim of IFS therapy is to bring compassion and curiosity to the parts of you who have worked so long in these roles and let them know it’s okay to relax their grip on you. IFS is my main framework as I’ve found it to be a powerful tool for bringing deep healing to the counselling process. It is a recognised, evidence-based treatment that has been around since the 1980s. If you’re curious, you can read more about IFS here.
Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) is a practical method of working towards a preferred future, rather than getting caught up in talking about life’s problems. This can be really good for getting the ball rolling, generating ideas for where you want to go and not just where you are right now. You can read more about SFT here.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a way of working that helps us align our beliefs with reality – you might call it common sense therapy. All of us misunderstand the way things are every now and again, and CBT has many ways to let us look with keen eyes at our perceptions and help us make decisions more in line with all the facts. Practical people tend to gravitate towards this approach. You can read more about CBT here.
What does the therapy process look like?
I take pride in tailoring my approach to fit you. There is no one-size-fits-all therapy, and so what’s most important is that we share a picture of where we’re going. However, I’ve written a little outline below that can give you an idea of how I like to start things off.
First Session. The first session is for me to get to know you and why you’re seeking help. This gives me a chance to start thinking of directions we could go, and you a chance to ‘try me out’ and see if I’m someone you can trust with your care.
Second Session. I’ll need to nail down some details about your current life and history to get a fuller picture of how your concerns fit in with the context of the rest of your life. We’ll start discussing paths forward, and collaboratively defining what you’d like to work on.
Third Session. Everybody’s different. Some people need more time to debrief, and some are ready to get moving towards change. No matter where you find yourself at this stage in the journey, I will meet you where you’re at. Sometimes going slower is going faster.
Fourth session and beyond. We will continue to work in the way you find resonates with you, periodically return to your goals for therapy, and make adjustments to the process collaboratively, until you feel our settled with your progress.
Curious?