Counselling & Psychotherapy
What I Do
I have a great deal of enthusiasm for work with individuals, as opposed to couples or groups. I am convinced that any meaningful change in relationships between people is first of all rooted in change within individuals. It is my firm belief that individuals can best bring about their own growth by first of all pursuing their own work on themselves in conjunction with a good therapist.
The type of work I do with people is not suited to those looking for quick “band-aid” fixes, which means it is not suited to those looking for the kind of help provided by most EAP plans. Such plans emphasize very short-term therapy focused on very narrowly defined issues.
The list of issues below is not comprehensive, but these are very common issues which have brought clients to me for psychotherapy.
- Mid-life change and orientation
- Anxiety and depression
- Anger and rage
- Serious and terminal illness
- Palliative care
- Marital and family distress
- Divorce and relationship breakdown
- Alcoholism and drug dependencies
- Sexual identity and orientation; sexuality in relationships
- Creative blockages, especially for those working in the arts
- Family and co-worker suicide
- Trauma and critical incident therapy, histories of family trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Adolescent issues of personal identity and growth
- Issues of spirituality and meaning, religious crises
- Bereavement
- Job loss and career crises
- Work/life balance and vocation
How I Work with People
I'm convinced that real, substantive change in marriages, families or any other social relationship can only come through increased self-knowledge.
Jung's analytical psychology emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind, and the symbols and images that emerge from it through dreams and other techniques that bring us into contact with hitherto unrecognized and unacknowledged parts of ourselves. Over time, these sources provide an important gateway through which a person can come to understand both conflicts and what is trying to emerge in her or his life.
This is not to say that situations occurring in everyday life are not examined with equal care: the two go hand in hand. The key relationships and interactions in peoples' lives are the very place where the struggle to “individuate”, as Jung would say, is worked out.
