Mission Statement
My aim as a psychologist is to encourage people to believe in themselves, to be free and responsible. I operate within the code of ethics of the Psychologists' Registration Board. My particular approach can be viewed by clicking here.
My understanding of the healing process is that trust is the cornerstone of mental health and that we need to practise trusting ourselves again in order to overcome anxiety, depression and regain confidence in relationships. The opposite to trust is jumping to conclusions in the face of overwhelming experiences.
Trust, as a method for living and healing, is not about investing in what we see and judge to be true. We may in times of stress be convinced of the rightness of what we see and understand but miss a sense of relevance or appropriateness. Trusting is about using free will to stay open when we can't see the answer to overwhelming experiences and it is about committing ourselves to staying open in the midst of our unknowing. Exercising faith in the face of unknowing is the source of creativity and healing. If healing was about following what you see and judge to be true we wouldn't need counselling we would just apply logic to problems and act accordingly. The linear method of problem solving, [problem, analysis, judgement then action] does not work for highly problematic dilemmas. These dilemmas confront us with complexity and mystery. In fact the linear method which we all assume is correct can actually cause us to be more reactionary when we are under extreme pressure, leaving us with feelings of anxiety and depression. Unfortunately or fortunately, life is mysterious. So therapy needs to accommodate life not the other way around.
This approach has fundamental implications for how we do therapy. Therapy is not about finding answers. It is about regaining confidence to allow life to happen, to allow ourselves the opportunity be surprised by what we can achieve and experience.
Otherwise we live in this endless opposition to ourselves always judging that what we do is not good enough, because we find ourselves never meeting the logical standards we set for ourselves.