Psychotherapy and Counseling

“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Abraham Maslow

My approach to psychotherapy and counseling is to take a multidisciplinary or pluralistic approach as I have a background in multiple therapeutic modalities.

What that means is that rather than having only one way of working with my clients I fit the approach to the client; rather than just having a hammer in my toolbox I fit the tools to the client.

One of the most important things that I do is to see each and every person that comes to me for therapy as an individual. This means that there will be a unique way that we will work together. As an example, if a client comes to me complaining of a symptom like ‘depression’ rather than ‘treating’ the depression I will work with the client to see what approach will best fit them and their unique and specific way that they are ‘depressed.’


Hypnosis and Trance Work

We go in and out of trance all of the time, it is a naturally occurring phenomenon. Getting lost in a book, daydreaming, having a vivid memory, ‘zoning’ out in front of the TV, these are all examples of ‘Trance States’

Often problems or symptoms will require you to go into ‘trance’ to experience them.

A great example of this is phobias. A fear of spiders is more often than not a fear of the ‘thought’ of spiders. The spider you will be afraid of isn’t the tiny house-spider crawling in your sink, it’s a giant fang bearing monstrosity that you see in your imagination!

The way that people create their phobias is to go into a deep trance and imagine something that isn’t there being very real, and the experience of this can be very frightening.

Understanding and being able to utilise this natural phenomenon is what hypnosis is. If you can create big imaginary scary spiders, what would happen if you could create big exciting plans and projects instead? Or teach yourself to see the tiny spider in the sink for what it is, just a small harmless spider!

Trance is something that has been explored in a variety of different ways throughout time, often referred to as meditation, mindfulness or relaxation and works with both your thoughts and your physiology.


Generative Coaching / Generative Change

“There is an entirely different way to look at change which we call the generative or enrichment approach. Instead of just looking for what’s wrong and fixing it, it’s possible simply to think of ways that your life could be enriched: “What new capacities or abilities could I invent for myself?”; “How can I make things really groovy?”

Excerpt from Frogs in Princes, 1979; Richard Bandler and John Grinder

I see that coaching is helping you to clarify and refine what it is you want and to help give you the tools to get there. Each of us has inside of us goals, dreams, and passions, a direction that can be described as our’ True North’.

I work with Robert Dilts and Stephen Gilligan on their latest coaching work: ‘Generative Change’.To be ‘generative’ means to create results that have never existed before: it is what entrepreneurs, artists, philosophers, and inspirational leaders do.

To “generate” means to create something new. The core focus of Generative Change is creativity: How do you create a successful and meaningful work life? How do you create great personal relationships? How do you develop a great relationship with yourself — your body, your past, your future, your wounds, and your gifts? These are the fundamental challenges in leading an extraordinary life. The processes of Generative Change offer a way to succeed at them.

Generative Coaching and Generative Change is a set of tools for working with clients to enable them to discover and harness this extraordinary power within themselves. It allows clients to transcend problems rather than just ‘sort’ them and to move on to new, previously unimagined levels of creativity in both their personal and professional lives. Unlike conventional coaching, Generative Coaching welcomes crises and threats to identity and works with them, treating them as golden opportunities for profound personal change.

The invitation is to come and explore what it is that you really want, and to us to work together to find your inner genius.


Therapeutic Modelling

Therapeutic modeling is the study of how people are effective at doing the things that they do, looking at how people do this in their bodies, their language, and their beliefs and patterns.

This practice was born in the ’70s the founders were interested in looking at the great therapists of their time Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir, Milton Erikson & Gregory Bateson. They wanted to understand and model how it was that they were so successful in what they did. The great thing about Therapeutic Modelling is that it is an ever-evolving discipline generating new learnings, tools, and skills.

The ability to ‘model’, is something that I use in my work with my clients, both for use in my therapeutic work and in my coaching and mentoring. Having a better understanding of how you may be ‘depressed’, creating ‘anxiety’ or having a problem like an eating disorder or addictive behaviours will often be our starting point for creating change.

It will also give me an insight into how you do the things that you do that are successful in your life. There are moments in our lives where we are all great at what we do, yet we may be unaware of how that happens. Gaining a better understanding of what makes you a great leader, manager, artist, parent, etc. and how you already do this, means that I can work with you to help you be more consciously skillful at choice within in your life.

And that is one of the best things for me about Modelling: It’s about generating more choice! Having more choice and flexibility in situations where you had none before, and that is what I aim to do with my clients.