How Does Therapy Work?
Integrative Therapy
Integrative therapy draws on techniques from different types of therapy to tailor an approach specifically for you to help you explore your issues, thoughts, and feelings. Individuals can benefit from becoming more aware of how they see the world and why as they go through a journey of self-discovery and increased self-awareness. As an integrative therapist, I draw upon a range of therapeutic modalities such as Psychodynamic, Person-Centred, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and Solution-Focused Therapy.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on unconscious processes and how they affect present behaviour. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are self-awareness and an understanding of the influence of the past on the present. It helps understand how past experiences, the unconscious mind, and impulses shape current feelings and behaviour.
As your therapist, I help you recognise and understand your true, deep-rooted feelings to help you resolve them. Our relationship is a crucial component and works on acceptance and trust. You are encouraged to talk freely to gain a better insight into your life and the difficulties you are experiencing in the present. Over time, you can learn to put your emotional life into perspective and express your feelings in more adaptive and healthier ways. With this new perspective and understanding, you can change negative patterns to help you move forward.
Person-Centred Therapy
Person-centred therapy enables you to eliminate the idea or feeling that external forces beyond your control influence you. The goals of this practice include increasing self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-acceptance, leading to improved emotional resilience and more meaningful relationships with others.
A type of psychotherapy, the person-centred approach emphasises your subjective experience and innate capacity for self-awareness and personal growth. Based on the theory of Carl Rogers, person-centred therapy is rooted in the belief you have the answers within. As your therapist, I help empower you to find the answers.
I focus on your needs and listen to you while providing a safe environment for you to make decisions independently.
Person-centred therapy helps enable your self-actualisation, allowing you to develop solutions to your problems and reach your full potential. You actively take control during each therapy session, while as your therapist, I act as a guide or a source of support where you feel heard and understood. You focus on maximising your ability to find solutions during the therapeutic process, which encourages positive change within yourself.
Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt is a highly positive and practical integrative therapeutic approach. It focuses on the present moment and immediate thoughts and feelings. Based on the principle that everyone is whole - composed of mind, body, and soul. The greater holistic awareness and increased insight into how you think, feel, and act. It builds self-confidence, frees you to address issues, and helps you live life to its fullest potential.
You focus on the present to understand what is happening in your life and how it makes you feel. It looks at how your past affects and influences your feelings at this moment rather than how you felt back then. The core focus is to raise your immediate awareness of how you are while allowing you to experiment with different response methods that increase your self-direction.
Transactional Analysis
Transactional analysis is an integrative approach to psychotherapy grounded in humanistic philosophy - the analysis of how people communicate and relate to each other. The analysis of transactions is based on ego states—three different ways of being that shape our inner world and behaviour as parents, adults, and children.
These ego states are often developed in the past and recreated in the present. They maintain old, unhelpful patterns which you can become more aware of and change.
Transactional analysis aims to help enhance your communications with others, where you work on problem-solving behaviours and develop day-to-day tools for finding solutions to promote personal growth and change. Transactional analysis offers the opportunity to create all kinds of skills that can be applied to many areas of life and solve many types of problems.
Solution- Focused Brief Therapy
Solution-focused brief therapy is also known as brief therapy, SFBT, or the solution-focused approach. The aim is to set clear, concise, and realistic goals – focusing on what you want and your strengths. SFBT is a type of humanistic therapy that considers you the expert on yourself and your world.
It focuses on solutions rather than problems. It is a short-term, evidence-based therapeutic approach that uses positive psychology principles and practices and helps you change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems. While it acknowledges present problems and past causes, SFBT predominantly explores your current resources and future hopes. This helps you look forward and use your strengths to achieve your goals.