Therapy That Puts Power in Your Hands

I am multi-modality trained and my ethical choice is to practice with a person-centred approach; drawing directly from the movement founded by Carl Rogers to assist therapy clients to reclaim their personal agency over their lives and well-being; out of the hands of 'experts' and 'authorities' into the hands of the clients themselves.* It is essentially an attitude that centres on listening deeply to you, as you are the person with the most knowledge and understanding of your own life. The therapist and client can work together as active counterparts in a therapeutic relationship, rather than the therapist performing a therapy 'on' you like a passive transaction or medical treatment.

Person-centred therapy (PCT) is a space for a real relationship to develop where the therapist and the client are able to interact as fully functioning human beings. Together, we explore what it means to question everything—including the beliefs and values you have absorbed from the world around you as you discern what does and doesn't serve your best interests, right now. Although I will be transparent about any information or ideas that I have, the Person-centred therapist does not prescribe answers, instead you will be asked open questions, and invited to find out what you really think and feel.

Your thoughts and feelings will be accepted unconditionally, and I will also be genuine with you about what I think and feel, including any relevant knowledges, skills and competencies that I have to share from integrative modalities, research and lived experience. You may experience gentle challenge, and there may even be moments of constructive tension between us, yet these are natural parts of the therapeutic process, as you are supported to form a stronger sense of who you are, and what you want, and where you are going in your life. The person-centred therapist is there to cherish your individuality, and unique learning, and accept you just as you are. 

The therapist holds no perfect idea of what it means to live, survive or thrive, in an imperfect world, but your own struggle and personal path will be explored, recognised and supported without judgement. I draw on a rich variety of therapeutic techniques, theories and psychological knowledge from my training and continuing professional development integrating modalities such as Gestalt, Transactional Analysis (TA), Internal Family Systems (IFS) to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and numerous other modalities. I offer experiments and support to try what might be suitable for you, so we can personalise a therapy that is bespoke to you. 

Person-centred therapy is a truly holistic approach because it welcomes every aspect of you to the therapy, and meets you in the wider context of your own life circumstances and the world around you. The work centres you as a free, dynamic, changing person rather than training you to perform according to a therapist's creed. As a matter of ethical imperative, it seeks to go beyond clinical, social and political hegemonies, in order to understand and assist your growth and development as a fully-functioning human being.


*This is also why, when starting therapy you are considered a 'client' using a professional service, rather than a 'patient' waiting on the help of someone intending to treat you, however tempting it may be to believe that someone could ever 'fix' you.



Enso circle brushstroke symbol


Content Policy |  Accessibility | Homepage | Blog | Contact

CC BY-NC 4.0

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meet Me Beyond the Labels

Image
So, I'm Kes. My full name is Kesley, and I like that, but Kes is for the dyslexics among us who might otherwise call me Kelsey. I'm certainly not a Kelsey. When I'm not pottering in the garden, being idle with a book, or following some creative pursuit, I spend a lot of time being a therapist. In one form or another, I've been a therapist for the best part of my adult life. As a child, it was my grandmother who taught me to be an excellent listener—and also instilled in me a penchant for teapots. I took my first classes in becoming a holistic therapist in my early twenties. I'm now in my mid-thirties, and have worked with many people of various ages and social positions. Let's start with the power and privilege stuff. Although it's clunky, it's important to name because it affects how you and I relate through our identities and social status. If we don't talk about these things, we’re likely to conform to predefined (and sometimes damaging) roles, pr...
Read more

Self-care

Image
Sometimes we humans get lost when we focus on externals, however there's a whole world within us that benefits from our own love and care. Our most reliable source of love and care is within ourselves. As adult human beings, we mature when we depend on ourselves, and ask for help when needed. Self-care is a way of showing yourself some love, and building up your inner worth and trust in your own relationship with your inner self. Here are some possibilities and suggestions for self-care, to nudge you toward a stronger and more solid relationship with yourself: Breathing Our breathing affects our entire nervous system, and even our heart rate. If you're feeling tense or emotional, your breath naturally changes as your body begins to prepare a response to meet your needs, however this can be problematic if your body is reacting to something in the past. We'll come back to this in a moment. First just to say, that our breath is usually an automatic, unconscious process. Simply...
Read more

Listening to the Felt-Sense: Finding Ourselves in Embodied Relationship & Belonging

Image
What if the depths of our inner world weren't a solitary landscape, but a rich territory we could genuinely share and explore with others? What if the felt sense —that subtle, quiet language of the body—was always in active, dynamic conversation with the spaces, people, and intricate systems we navigate daily? This expansive understanding is at the heart of two distinct yet deeply complementary approaches: HomeFocusing and Relational Whole Body Focusing . Both build on Eugene Gendlin's Focusing modality, and invite us into a profound way of being - an orientation to life that keeps us intimately connected to ourselves in context . HomeFocusing: Sensing Our Selves in Life's Living Systems HomeFocusing , developed by Annat Gal-on, a Focusing Coordinator and systemic constellations facilitator, arose from a clear need: to bring the power of Focusing beyond the therapy room and into the vibrant, messy, and beautiful complexity of real life. As Annat puts it, "HomeFocusing...
Read more