Therapeutic Approaches
Attachment Therapy
A psychodynamic therapy that looks into your early relationship with your primary caregiver(s) and significant others. Our experience of our first relationship during infancy has a marked impact on our lives, as this relationship becomes the blueprint for all others. Attachment Therapy can help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your world.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Explores your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, regarding the issues you have come to counselling for. It examines thinking patterns and deep seated negative beliefs about yourself that perpetuates your problems. Through practical exercises it provides a structured approach to tackling issues.
Person-Centred Therapy
A humanistic therapy that has three principles at its core: empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard. In person-centred therapy
great value is placed on these principles, as it is foremost that you feel heard, understood and accepted.
Our gut has a remarkable influence on our brain and ultimately how we think and feel. This is due to the microbiome and its 100 trillion bacteria that a play a crucial part in mood and stress regulation, behaviour, and manufacturing of neurotransmitters to name but a few. Notably our gut produces 95% of the body's serotonin, 50% dopamine and many other neurotransmitters and hormones that influence and regulate our mood, behaviour and a plethora of other chemical and physiological reactions. Working with the gut-brain connection as an adjunct to counselling will help you see greater results and improvement in your mental wellbeing, and of course physical health.
Practising mindful nutrition can help you with issues related to your relationship with food, such as body image, self-esteem, weight loss, eating disorders, obesity as well as gut issues such as IBS and IBD. The connection between mind and body as seen in these issues means that a mindfulness based nutritional intervention in conjunction
with psychotherapy can help you if you are struggling with any of the above problems.
Online or Face-to-Face
How does online psychotherapy differ from face to face?
In traditional psychotherapy the therapist and the client meet in person at the counsellor's private practice. With online psychotherapy the client and the therapist meet in a virtual space. The client has to find a quiet and safe space where they can connect to the counsellor through the web. Fortunately, the internet makes connecting to another possible and therapy can happen any time any place as long as there is a good internet connection, a video camera, and the client has a space where they can talk without being disturbed or overheard.
What are the benefits of online counselling?
The biggest benefits are convenience, flexibility and time. You save time travelling to and from the therapists practice. You can log on and connect to your counsellor from the comfort of your own home in a matter of minutes. You can arrange sessions that easily fit into your schedule.
Does online counselling work?
Research (https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Releases/archive/2013/psychotherapie-via-internet-wirkt-gleich-gut-oder-besser-wie-im-sprechzimmer.html) has found that online counselling can be just as good if not better compared to traditional face to face counselling. Clients with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, social anxiety and loneliness can especially benefit. It has also been found that clients who engage in online counselling tend to be more focused and willing to do tasks that can help them outside of sessions.
What are the potential drawbacks of online counselling?
Finding a confidential space to talk can sometimes be difficult and may require some advanced planning. Meeting your therapist online is a new experience for many and is something that may require a bit of adjustment and challenge traditional ideas of what psychotherapy should look like.
How many session will I need?
This really depends on the reasons for seeking psychotherapy, and if you have a clear goal you want to achieve as well as your expectations of counselling.
However, the process of counselling is quite fluid, and even though we may have a specific direction we would like to follow, counselling works best when there is flexibility and openness to what may arise in sessions. The most important factor is that you feel comfortable and willing to continue with therapy.
You can also choose to start off with a limited number of sessions and work on techniques to support you in the short term through brief counselling which usually takes about 6 to 8 sessions. Otherwise long term psychotherapy would be more beneficial to help you work through more difficult and complex issues. Needless to say, I will always check in with you to see how therapy is going for you, and have a review after every 4-6 sessions.
