Therapy

Psychotherapy is essentially talk therapy. It is usually conducted by a trained professional in a confidential setting and on a one to one basis.

There is much debate and opinion surrounding the differences between counselling and psychotherapy. Common thoughts are that Counselling involves a shorter duration and more action driven process. Psychotherapy is seen as longer and more in depth and therefore usually conducted by an intensively trained professional.

As a trained Counselling Psychologist in South Africa, I personally see Psychotherapy as a process of insight, personal development and change that can be of short duration or longer as the needs of the client dictate.

I work predominately with individuals although Psychotherapy can take place with couples and with groups. The actual process of Psychotherapy is aimed at reducing distress, reaching understanding and facilitating increases in self esteem, self worth, coping, and well being.

It is so hard to list all the areas and issues I cover in Psychotherapy. As unique and individual as every person is, so too are the reasons they seek therapy. One must bear in mind that life is hard and adjustment to what life throws at you is a very real reason to seek therapy. There are also people who seek therapy to delve deeper within themselves for personal development.

PLEASE NOTE: I do not do couple counselling as I prefer to work on an individual level.

I am essentially a Person Centred Therapist which is a Humanistic orientation developed by Carl Rogers. This modality is focussed on developing a safe, genuine, empathetic and non-judgemental relationship between therapist and client that allows the client to work at their pace and explore their difficulties.

I do have to stress though that I do believe in giving the client some useful skills to be able to navigate the emotional reactivity of the body such as mindfulness exercises (to allow for relaxation and breathing) as well as some Cognitive Behavioural ideas (to allow for work of cognitive distortions within the context of the Person Centred Approach). As well As Dialectial Behavioural Therapy (DBT) ideas for emotional regulation and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) because it simply makes sense. All on the bedrock of empathy and acceptance.

Therapy

Therapy offered