Areas of practice
Why people need psychotherapy
At different points in life we seek additional support to enable us manoeuvre through difficult life transitions and/or to cope with challenging life events, experiences, emotions and behavioural patterns. Choosing to participate in therapy can help people gain insight and self-awareness that will facilitate healing and bring about lasting change for a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
The Psychotherapist intervenes in the following areas:
- Reaction disorders to life events : Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, panic attack, emotional trauma, burnout at work, break-up in relationship, divorce, unemployment, bereavement, drug and alcohol use disorder (drug addiction and alcoholism)...
- Social issues: People who are victims of racism, violence, harassment, addiction ...
- Relational issues : Affirmation of low self-esteem and identity, relationship with other people, breach of trust, conflict ...
- Adaptation disorders: Related to social issues, family-parent/teen relationship challenges professional/academic issues...
The Psychotherapist can also respond to the request of a health professional (Psychiatrist, general practitioner, or Psychologist), who addresses her with patients suffering from psychopathological disorders who can benefit from the therapeutic method she practices.
Therapeutic Approach Practiced
Effective counselling practice is not giving advice to the client but rather supporting them to make their own choice and effective decisions that will facilitate healing, a positive change in their feelings or behaviour. A relationship of trust, confidentiality and collaborative is paramount to a successful counselling or psychotherapy experience.
Counselling is a process that empowers people psychologically to take back control of their lives, whilst working through issues and problems that have caused them to lose confidence in their own abilities, self-esteem. Counselling increases self-awareness and a sense of well-being, and is often the first step people take in their quest to discover a more positive and fulfilling life.
It involves sharing thoughts and concerns in a safe, confidential environment, and with a non-judgmental attitude of the counsellor that gives the client time to explore negative feelings and behaviours. A result-oriented therapeutic relationship between the counsellor and the client is strengthened from week to week, and gradually enables the client to open up and focus more realising the set objectives. These sessions could be on a short-term or long-term basis depending on the nature of the problem.
Counselling is suitable and recommended for anyone suffering from depression, anxiety, mental health problems, addictions, eating disorders, bereavement, anger management and many other reasons. If the clients’ problem is affecting the quality of their life, interactions with others or their general well-being, counselling is an option that is definitely worth exploring in order to address the emotional or mental health issues that impact negatively and restrict the client from living a fulfilling life.
Psychotherapy or talk therapy is a way of helping people with a variety of mental problems and emotional difficulties. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control symptoms to enable the individual function better for improved well-being and healing.
Psychotherapy is beneficial for the treatment of emotional and certain mental health issues and challenges that affect and restrict people in coping with their daily life, such problems as trauma-related disorder, medical illness, bereavement, like the death of a loved one, and specific emotional and mental disorders, like depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. There are different types of psychotherapy and some could work better with certain problems or challenges. Psychotherapy may be used in combination with medication, for instance anti-depressant, or other therapies. To maintain healthy lifestyle, good nutrition, adequate sleep, and regular physical excercise may be crucial in supporting recovery and overall wellbeing.
Different approaches to psychotherapy :
There are diverse approaches to psychotherapy and each has unique benefits that could help with your mental health issues. Psychotherapy approach fall into five broad categories: Cognitive behavioural therapy, Cognitive therapy, Humanistic therapy, Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy, Integrative approach to psychotherapy.
Cognitive behavioural therapy - CBT :
Cognitive behavioural therapy aims to help you change the way you think (cognitive) and what you do (behaviour). Rather than looking at past causes, it focuses on current problems and practical solutions to help you feel better now.
The way we think about situations affects the way we feel and behave. If we view a situation negatively, we may experience negative emotions and feelings which lead us to behave in an unhelpful way. Your therapist will help you identify and challenge any negative thinking so you can deal with situations better and behave in a more positive way
CBT can be helpful for depression, anxiety, stress, phobias, obsessions, eating disorders and managing long term conditions.
Cognitive therapy :
Cognitive therapy is based on the theory that your previous experiences can damage your perception of yourself, which can affect your attitudes, emotions and your ability to deal with certain situations.
It can help you to identify, question and change poor mental images of yourself, so guiding you away from negative responses and behaviour. It can help pessimistic or depressed people to view things from a more optimistic perspective.
Humanistic therapy :
This approach focuses on the individual as a whole. It encourages people to think about their feelings and take responsibility for their thoughts and actions. The emphasis is on self-development and achieving your highest potential rather than on problematic behaviour. Gestalt therapy, person-centred therapy, transactional analysis and transpersonal therapy are all humanistic approaches.
Person-centred therapy :
Person or client-centred therapy is based on the view that everyone has the capacity and desire for personal growth and change, given the right conditions. The clients are perceived by the psychotherapist/counsellor as being the best authority of their own experiences and therefore capable of achieving their own potential for growth and problem resolution.
The person-centred psychotherapist/counsellor provides favourable conditions to allow the emergence of such potential through a therapeutic relationship based on unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding, that would enable the clients to come to terms with negative feelings, thoughts and behaviours, inorder to develop the strength and freedom needed to bring about healing/positive change.
The counsellor plays a passive role when encouraging the client to explore their feeling and emotions, they make no recommendations or ask probing questions, their aim is simply to reflect and clarify what the client is saying.
Gestalt therapy :
The name Gestalt is derived from the German for ‘whole’ or ‘pattern’. It looks at the individual as a whole, and within their surroundings, rather than breaking things into parts. Practitioners help you to focus on the here and now and your immediate thoughts, feelings and behaviour to better understand how you relate to others and to situations. This can help you find a new, positive perspective on problems and bring about changes in your life.
Gestalt therapy often includes acting out scenarios and dream recall, and is effective in treating issues such as anxiety, stress, addiction, tension and depression.
Psychoanalysis
This is based on the work of Sigmund Freud, who believed that psychological problems are rooted in the unconscious mind. Experiences from a person’s past can influence thoughts, emotions and behaviour in later life. The analyst will encourage you to talk about your experiences and use techniques such as free association or dream analysis to identify repressed feelings or conflicts that are affecting you now. Bringing these to the front of your mind allows any negative feelings to be dealt with.
This can be a lengthy and intensive process and is often used by clients suffering high levels of distress.
Psychodynamic therapy
The psychodynamic approach is derived from psychoanalysis, but focuses on immediate problems to try to provide a quicker solution. It stresses the importance of the unconscious and past experience in shaping current behaviour. A therapist will aim to build an accepting and trusting relationship, encouraging you to talk about your childhood relationships with your parents and other significant people. It also uses similar techniques to psychological support, including free association, interpretation and especially transference, where feelings you experienced in previous significant relationships are projected onto the therapist.
Psychosynthesis
Sometimes described as ‘psychology of the soul’, this approach seeks to bring together your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual attributes to encourage personal development. Psychosynthesis is useful for people seeking a new, more spiritually oriented vision of themselves to enable change and growth.
Integrative approach to psychotherapy :
Many therapists do not confine themselves to any one approach. Instead, they combine elements from different approaches and tailor their treatment according to each client's needs. Humanistic approach combined with the Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approach.
Transactional analysis - TA :
Transactional analysis is an integrative approach to psychological support that draws on all the major traditions of psychology while being firmly grounded in a humanistic philosophy, which holds the value and equality of human beings, their motivation and their potential. The principles of practice that emerge from this philosophy concern mutual commitment in the therapeutic contract, the empowerment of the client, the transparent use of accessible theory, and belief in self-responsibility and change.
The name ‘transactional analysis’ refers to the analysis of how people communicate and relate to each other (how they ‘transact’). TA uses observation of here and now interchanges (the interpersonal) in order to improve communication and relationships and also as a route to understanding personality (the intrapsychic or internal world). The analysis of the transactions is based on Eric Berne’s theory of ego states – Parent, Adult and Child – three different ways of being that shape our internal world and our behaviour. These ego states are often developed in the past and re-created in the present, maintaining old and unhelpful patterns, which can be brought into awareness and made available for change. It is interesting that Berne named the approach for the interpersonal element of human experience. It is an acknowledgement both of the impact of relationship in shaping personality and also, supported by the psychotherapy outcome research, the centrality of the therapeutic alliance in creating insight and change.
Therapeutic Approach Practiced
Our approach is collaborative, warm and relational. By working together in a safe space of confidentiality, trust and respect, clients are able to open up to deeper reflection of themselves as well as the world around them that would enable them to take effective decisions and work towards realising them.
Result-Oriented Approach Practiced
(Person-Centred, Humanistic and Collaborative)
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - CBT
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy - T-F CBT
- Person Centred Approach to Psychotherapy - PCT
We incorporate cognitive behavioural therapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy, and the person centred approach to psychotherapy in our practice.
The Lead Psychotherapist was personally impacted by the humanistic approach to psychotherapy during her training notably the Person centred therapy developed by Carl Rogers. This approach enabled her to explore all facets of her life/experiences, discovered herself, and identified problems and challenges, able to set goals and objectives and work towards achieving them that brought about positive change, resulting in her living a fulfilled life. We therefore believe in the humanistic approach to change, knowing that change occurs through raising awareness of a problem, a need for solution and strategies to problem solution…
Our therapeutic stance is based on three core conditions : Empathy, being at the same position with the client, having an unconditional positive regard, and being non-judgement. Congruence, bieng genuine and transparent is also another key factor that enables me to build result-oriented therapeutic relationship.
We respect the autonomy and choice of the client, follow them in their journey by being non-directive, with trust in their capacity for self-actualisation.
We prioritize the therapeutic relationship and value the clients' expertise on their own life experiences.
From the perspective of the person-centred approach, we maintain an unconditional positive regard, a non-judgmental attitude, genuine and transparent, with total acceptance of clients as they are, irrespective of what they say or do. ”The client becomes contaminated by the Psychotherapist’s accepting attitude and little by little begins to experience the same attitude towards himself”
The Psychotherapist’s willingness to be open about her weakness can introduce new possibilities for self-acceptance in the client, who spends his life in fear of weaknesses and failure.
From a strength-based perspective I work to support clients to achieve their own unique goals. we see ourselves as journeying with clients as they develop new skills to cope with life demands and challenges. Furthermore, we assist clients to explore their sense of self and their world in new ways. we recognise that individuals are part of a larger network (for instance, the family, partnership and the community), we are sensitive to the role different systems may play in the clients’ life, struggles, and resilience.
In addition, to the expertise of clients in the person centred therapy and the cognitive behavioural therapy, we work in collaboration with clients to determine their needs and to develop a therapeutic plan for moving forward in an effort to address the primary concern. As we work together, we continue to reflect on the therapeutic process to ensure we are working toward realising the set goals and objectives.
Genuinely listening and feeling what the clients are experiencing, standing in the clients’ shoes, deep empathic understanding is all too rare in most people’s daily lives… being deeply understood helps dissolve feelings of isolation, distress and gives the courage to express more of our thoughts and feelings.
Creating a safe space for clients of diverse backgrounds and cultures is a priority in my therapeutic practice. we welcome clients of all races, religions, genders, ages, abilities, and sexual orientations.
**Get in touch with us by simply going to our contact page on the menu. You can as well send our an e-mail and tell us a little about yourself, how you're feeling and what is happening around you currently, include your mobile telephone number, and when will be the best time to talk. we will respond rapidly to your enquiries within 24 hours.