You want an answer to your question and a solution to your problem. Therapy does not work in a predictable movement towards a clear goal and sometimes it feels messy and unclear. But this is a mirror of the moving complexity of the human being. There will be some methods that resonate with you and others that do not. You may like a method one day and not like it the next. That is all fine and one of the reasons an integrative therapy approach is so effective- it is complex and varied itself so it has the depth to move with you.
Person Centred Therapy
This therapy method will always be present. It is based on the idea that you are the expert of you. In this sense, I believe that you have the answers to resolve your own issues, we just need to help them move to the surface. Person Centred Therapy means that, in therapy, we move at the pace that is most comfortable for you and introduce any interventions at your pace.
IFS
This therapy method will be used to take deep dives. IFS identifies that we have different parts that do different jobs for us. Over the years we have developed many protectors which have habitual reactions and patterns. We also have exiles, which are wounded parts of ourselves which we try not to listen to and we have a Self. The Self is calm, curious, creative, connected, compassionate, courageous, clear thinking and confident. The IFS method tries to get us to move into Self and dialogue with the protectors and the exiles to understand and unburden them.
Somatic, mind-body work
This method is to try to stay with the experience of something as it arises in the body. It involves feeling the physical sensation of an experience in the body and learning more about it. For people who think a lot it, can be a surprising quick and powerful method to start open up to the difficulties faced.
Solution-Focused
Not everyone comes to therapy for solutions as such, some people want to explore and see what happens. But for people with a definite aim in mind, we use the solution focused therapy method questioning to make sure we are moving in the right direction.
Active Imagination
Drawing on the work of Jung, if appropriate, we can explore dreams, ideas, unconscious responses, writing and drawing with a view to turning towards unconscious material so that we begin to understand ourselves more deeply.
We will move in and out of different therapy methods as appropriate to your needs at the time.
What to expect in therapy
Clients may give their whole story or they may prefer to work with what is currently happening for them. Either way, this material provides an entry point. We will stay with material, we will explore, we will see it from different angles. One of the great thing about integrative therapy is that it provides you with more angles to see from.
Sometimes you will feel relief after sessions, sometimes much happier, sometimes you may feel frustrated or notice that something new is coming up for you that doesn’t yet make sense. All of this is material we use in the sessions to understand where you are.
We are not working towards ‘everything is fixed’. There is no such thing. Human beings are a complex, moving process. The greatest part of healing is, for most people, becoming increasing comfortable with uncertainty, ambiguity and learning to adopt flexibility in how we relate to the world, other people and ourselves.
The reed, which bends before the storm, survives, while the mighty oak is broken.
– AESOP