Work with Me
Work with Me
My Counselling Approach
Discovery
My counselling approach is person-centered - I take the thoughts, feelings and information that you share and I translate these into a mode that best explains or communicates with how you understand and learn. I don't stick to one particular approach or another, and often time there are a few approaches required to really work issues through properly. There is no pressure to feel like you have to share everything all at once. Simply share what you feel comfortable to and at the pace you can.
I like to draw as I'm discovering to map out what I've understood from your experience and to start build connections around your situation. This may be a diagram with different elements, it may be a drawing or a different type of visual that tangibly demonstrates how I see your circumstances coming together.
Patterns
My counselling method can best be described as me recognising and analysing patterns in your behaviours (systems-based method).
I look at both your 'external' systems-based behaviours with others that you interact with in your life as well as your 'internal' (how you interact with yourself) system-based behaviours. This is where we start pulling out pieces of the puzzle to understand how they're impacting you.
Therapy
I use evidence-based therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Attachment-based, Narrative-based and Psycho-dynamic.
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I may apply one or many of these therapies, but it will be based on your specific needs. My goal is to start you on your change journey whilst helping you embed and maintain those changes. We want positive changes to continue to occur, long after you finish counselling and not a return to your original state.
Session Structure
There is no 'correct' or 'minimum' number of sessions, how many counselling sessions you choose to attend is up to you. Generally it takes 2 to 3 sessions for people to get comfortable and really be able to open up and start digging into the issues you are experiencing however everyone is different.
Counselling sessions will go for about 60 minutes and the general structure of what to expect follows:
Session 1: In this first appointment, most of the time will be spent building rapport and the beginning of a therapeutic relationship. This is because a strong therapeutic bond is a large contributing factor towards positive and effective change*. In the first appointment, we will also talk about what has brought you in for counselling and what you would like to get out of it. You don’t have to have a complete picture of what you want in your head at the start, some goals will develop over time.
Session 2 - 5: As we will be more familiar with each other, we will start to talk further about patterns and different factors in the presenting problem. We will then begin building a psychological map and speak about different theoretical frameworks to better understand the ongoing situation and to begin the steps of making change.
Session 6 and onwards: We will delve deeper into the earlier issues and childhood experiences which may have led to factors influencing the presenting problem. We will also be continuing maintenance of the progress we have made so far to ensure that positive changes aren’t just temporary. We will also begin to look into secondary issues that you may be facing now that you have more psychological space to tackle them.
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