Counselling & Psychotherapy Information

What’s the difference between Counselling & Psychotherapy?

Counselling

Counselling works at a practical level to address specific issues.

It is usually solution-focused and goal-oriented. For example, if someone is fairly well functioning in their life and looking for extra support in a particular area, such as work relationships, or how to deal with your children, or a relationship breakup, counselling can address these issues and offer practical strategies for communication and change.

Counselling may also be required in cases where someone is in crisis and more basic survival strategies and support systems are necessary.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy encompasses all of this while simultaneously going deeper to get to the root of the matter.

It works on multiple levels, incorporating the physical/body/somatic, psychological, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual aspects of the person, to address deeper psychological patterning and functioning. This incorporates both the unconscious and conscious dynamics at play in your relationships and your life script.

Psychotherapy also works with specific intentions and goals although these may not always be explicit.

How I Work

I have a deep respect for the individuality of each person, and their own process of development.

This means everyone has different requirements of therapy and whether we are working together doing counselling or psychotherapy or some combination of the two, I will carefully tailor a treatment plan to meet your personal requirements.

This will include specific areas you wish to address as well as negotiated aspects which I discuss with you according to my assessment of your psychological needs and functioning.

Integrative & Holistic

My approach is integrative and holistic, incorporating the physical/body/somatic, mental, emotional, psychological, relational and spiritual aspects of each individual.

Working with whatever issues you bring, we explore together what this means for you and how it relates to your overall intention for therapy.

The theoretical foundation which underpins my clinical thinking about my clients comes from my training in Relational Transactional Analysis (TA) and Somatic Psychotherapy.

Relational TA has given me a comprehensive psychotherapy training incorporating developmental, attachment and personality theories which can  be applied to a broad spectrum of clients and modalities.

Somatics is a body-oriented psychotherapy where we use our experience of our bodily senses to inform and guide our work.

Assessment Of Your Needs

As my client, you can expect me to discuss with you your expectations of therapy and my assessment of your needs to negotiate a working contract. I will also be checking in with you periodically to re-evaluate our goals, review what is working and what is not and whether we are on track and make the necessary adjustments in a collaborative way.

As part of my professional integrity and maintenance, I am in ongoing supervision and professional development.

My practice is governed by a code of ethics set out by the professional organisations to which I belong.  These codes of ethics are on the websites of my member organisations ATAA and PACFA – found on the side of every page.

The Point of Psychotherapy

The point of psychotherapy is not to talk endlessly about the past with no signs of progress.  If this happens it would certainly be addressed in the therapy.

Sometimes we need to clear beliefs and reconcile memories from the past in order to free ourselves from their hold on us and we need to learn how to do this without simply revisiting the past with no change.

For others, who are uninterested in the past, we can work very effectively in the here and now with whatever is important for you currently. Either way, it is possible to experience a sense of freedom and spontaneity which comes from living in the moment.