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Dry Plants

Approach and Specialities

It has often been said that psychotherapy is part science, part art. I draw on my professional training as an academic and a researcher to ensure that my approach is evidence-based and up to date with current knowledge. I am continually evaluating with my clients the efficacy of our work together. However, I don't believe that everything that is important can be measured. Psychosynthesis is an approach that focuses on living a life full of purpose, meaning and value. It provides me with a range of options for guiding a person in discovering what it is they want and what changes may be necessary at this point in order for them to find what it is they are looking for.

Psychosynthesis

Psychosynthesis is the approach that underpins my client work. It is a psychotherapeutic approach that acknowledges the importance of body, feelings, mind, and spirituality, to mental health and wellbeing. When I use the term spirituality, I refer to that difficult-to-describe sense of connection to something bigger than us. For one person, that connection may be found through a spiritual practice, for another, through time spent in nature, for another it may be found through participation in a social movement, meaningful work, or in the way they care for friends and family. My training has given me a variety of different ways of addressing a client’s goals in therapy and together we will decide on appropriate direction and will reassess progress periodically.
Somatic Experiencing

While Psychosynthesis is the modality I have been primarily trained in for my psychotherapeutic work, I have also completed the three year training in Somatic Experiencing and an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner). SE is an approach developed by Dr Peter Levine that focuses on the interrelationship between our minds, hearts, and bodies and is particularly helpful in treating trauma when talking therapy seems to be insufficient. Like trauma researchers and practitioners such as Babette Rothschild and Bessel Van der kolk, Peter Levine believes that the body does indeed 'keep the score' and needs to be included in recovery from both chronic and acute trauma. For more about SE, see https://traumahealing.org/
Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples

I have completed all three levels of training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples, developed by Dr Sue Johnson. This is the primarily modality I operate from in my work with couples. Dr Johnson has developed a way of understanding the distress that couples can experience with reference to our attachment patterns. These patterns govern how we negotiate closeness and distance in relationship. Dr Johnson has also - thankfully - developed a way of helping couples get out of distressing, repetitious cycles that often leave both people feeling alone and stuck. I love EFT and what it offers us in thinking about all kinds of relationships and the difficult dynamics we can find ourselves in. For more about this approach, you might like to look at NZCEFT.
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