A MULTI-FACETED THERAPEUTIC APPROACH

Whether your goal is :

• to overcome life-long or sudden emotional, traumatic or personal issues

• resolve difficulties in a relationship

• work through a complicated decision, or

• learn to be increasingly self-aware & self-accepting,

….. we can work together to reach your goals – one insightful shift at a time.‍ ‍

Compassionate, non-judgmental dialogue is where I will meet you, get to know you, and come to understand your aims and goals. Together we will decide on the most natural route to get you to where you want to be.

Current brain & trauma-based research, emerging from many of the great teachers, philosophers and spiritual leaders of our time – has taught us that it is through making contact with, and getting to know our pain & suffering, that we are able to move beyond, or live with suffering. And yet for most of us, avoidance, denial or rejection of such suffering is our ‘normal’…and our primal or logical response. Making the shift to what works is not always easy, but it is ‘good work’.

Fortunately – whether your suffering is based in anxiety, depression, fractured relationships, trauma, addiction, physical pain, anger, etc! – the greatest potential for personal growth and overcoming suffering is already within you. In a safe therapeutic environment, and with such internal, previously unrecognized supports already in place, it becomes possible to make contact with past and/or current suffering… to recognize causes and conditions … and to reconcile and learn to live more fully and happily with both our suffering and the possibility of relief from our suffering.

This may involve bringing to light old patterns and beliefs about self and others; recognizing ‘systemic’ (historical, familial, gender, cultural, etc) causes and conditions; finding ways to create space for healing; renewing relationships; and coming to know and accept ourselves with greater understanding, compassion and authenticity. ‍ ‍

Because mental and emotional safety is of utmost concern, a therapeutic relationship needs to be built on trust, and a solid understanding of your needs, wants, and beliefs. The primary multi-faceted therapeutic lens that I bring to our relationship is Multi-Cultural & Trauma informed, influenced by Humanistic approaches such as Rogerian Person-Centred Theory, Gendlin’s Focusing, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behaviour Theory, and an underlying respect for your own cultural and spiritual practises.

What is FOCUSING? - a Somatic Therapy developed by Philosopher Gene Gendlin

Focusing is a uniquely inward focused therapeutic approach that involves supporting a specific kind of open, non-judging attention to an “internal knowing” - something that is experienced bodily but is not yet in words. Sounds complicated? It’s actually not. Focusing can, among other things, be used to become clear on what one feels or wants, to obtain new insights about one's situation, and to stimulate change or healing of a situation. It is is an interpersonal dialogue available for us to use in the therapeutic setting. It is an experiential, embodied and evidence-based practice of supported self-reflection.   It’s called Focusing because it requires a special kind of “focus” to notice that which is not yet clear…. is somehow fuzzy and vague and yet implicit in how we interact with our situations, in our relationships, and in the environment.  This fuzzy dimension of our primarily internal experience is called the “felt sense.” Focusing on the “felt sense” allows an in-depth clarification process to happen – In a Living Forward way. https://somaticpsychotherapytoday.com/eugene-gendlin-somatic-pioneer/